iillH(i«iM|M*MMii|«^^ 




*a:^SS^SS5Sa$&-;^^*SS5>S!sS'S§=K 



:3SIVE 



M^PERrENCE 



4 



i ^: ■ 






^=^r 



■'-7 







liilMpMPPMpiii^^ 



Mi^i^^^^^^^ 



L^j&:^.^^^^^'»S£S'S[^S;iei^.'^r£$^d!<^<f;;^«S^^ 










liook. 



n 









PKKSENTED BY 



r-^- 



THE 



^rogrtssik (Jt:b^penen« of i\t Icart 



UNDER 



THE DISCIPLINE OF THE HOLY GHOST, 



FROM REGENERATION TO MATURITY. 



BY 

MRS. MARIA STEVENS. 

■n'lTH A PREFACE BY 

BISHOP Wi\I. R. NICHOLSON 



The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth 

MORE AND MORE UNTO THE J'ERFECT DAY. — PrOV. IY, 18. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
JAMES HAMMOND, 1224 CHESTNUT STREET. 

18 7 7. 






QSFT 

MfSS LETITIA THOMAS 
AUG- 3, 194Q 



James A. Moore, Printer, 
1220, 12:'2 & 1224 JSunsom Street, Philadelphia. 



r 



o 
'I 



CONTENTS 



PAOR 

The Heart's Corruption 9 

The Heart under Conviction 24 

The Dividing of the Heart 38 

The Heart's Decision 50 

The Heart's Conflicting Statue under a Sense of Im- 

POTENCY ;.............. 64 

The Heart's Contrition 78 

The Pouring Forth of the Heart before the Lord .. 95 
The Surrender of the Heart in Devotion to the Lord.. 109 

Longing of Heart for Conscious Union 125 

The Sense of Union a New Spring of Obedience 139 

The Exhibition of Peculiar Holiness 153 

Keeping of the Heart by Vigilance 167 

Keeping of the Heart by Covenant Protection 180 

The Rest of the Heart in an All-sufficient Lord 184 

The Heart's Charity 210 

The Matured and Ripened Experience of the Heart.,. 224 



PREFACE. 



The writer of the following pages was a member 
of the Church of England, and exercised her most 
faithful private ministry for Christ during all the 
years from 1804 to 1840. What Solomon said at the 
close of his description of the Divine ideal of a good 
wife, might, with but little exaggeration, have been 
applied to her in respect of her religious life and char- 
acter. " Many daughters have done virtuously, but 
thou excellest them all." A deeply experienced 
Christian, and an intelligent and thorough student 
of the Bible, she was also a most active, painstaking, 
devoted, and even enthusiastic teacher of the Bible. 
Her labors, during all those years, as a teacher of 
numerous classes of both sexes, and her quiet, gen- 
tle, yet glowing and most womanly addresses at her 
various meetings, were signally owned of God, to the 
praise of the glory of His grace, in all the several 
kinds of gospel fruit-bearing. She is described as 
she appeared in her lecture room, at Knaresborough, 
as '' sitting down to play and sing the hymn which 
she gave out, and when done, sitting in an arm-chair, 
facing her audience, and in the gentlest and sweetest 

V 



VI PREFACE. 

voice seeming as if speaking to her friends with en- 
ergy." Her influence was deep and large. She 
fascinated her hearers. E^or was it only by the liv- 
ing voice she taught for Christ, hut hy the pen also ; 
being the author of no less than ten volumes, on as 
many different subjects. 

She was, indeed, experimentally versed in the deep 
things of God. Her theological views were those 
known as evangelical ; and very appreciatively evan- 
gelical she was. " The doctrines of grace" were as 
honey to her taste. And her ability to expound and 
defend her views from the Bible standpoint was 
both marked and effective. But not only so, she lived 
the truths which she professed. Her glorification of 
Jesus, as well in her experience as in her writings, 
is as delightful as, perhaps, anything to be found in 
all Christian biography. And she, being dead, yet 
speaketh. 

The reader is herewith presented with one of her 
many publications. Its very title is both attractive 
and suggestive to the enlightened and thoughtful 
Christian. " The Frogressiue Experience of (he Heart.''' 
What a rich domain of truth and experience. '' The 
Progressive Experience of the Hearty under the Discipline 
of the Holy Ghost^ from Regeneration to Maturity J'' It 
is the loftiest of themes. And she treats it with dis- 
tinguished ability. The book is remarkable for its 
discriminations in the things of God. There are 



PREFACE. Vll 

searching teachings on the subject of sin. And the 
presentation, in the latter part of it, of the fulhiess of 
Jesus as a Saviour, and of the believer's oneness with 
Him, is at once clear, beautiful, and rapturous. 
And, withal, there is such an atmosphere of holy 
obedience, as attempers the joy to a subduing fear 
of the Lord. 

In the midst of so many excellencies, however, 
there is one defect; perhaps I should call it merely 
an inadvertence. After tracing the sinner's experi- 
ence through conviction of sin to the point of con- 
version, the writer then omits to insist on, or even 
to mention, that immediately the believer is privi- 
leged to rejoice in the assurance of faith. It is espe- 
cially in this regard that Romaine's famous treatise 
on " The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith," is so 
excellent. Whoever, in a true sense of his condition 
as a sinner, accepts Christ as his Sacrifice for sins, 
and his Eighteousness, is really saved from all con- 
demnation, and is made the x'ighteousness of God in 
Him. And this being so, the deliverance should be 
acknowledged and appropriated. It is due to the 
reality of Christ's work. Either He is a Saviour or 
He is not; either He has positively delivered the 
believer, or He has not; but if He has delivered him, 
surely He should be acknowledged in the deliver- 
ance actually wrought. And such clear, distinct 
appropriation on the part of the believer is funda- 



Vlll PREFACE. 

mental also to any strength of holy obedience. The 
writer's omission to bring out this point in bold- 
est relief is, indeed, a blemish. She supplies the 
defect in the latter part of the book, with regard to 
the believer in his more matured experience ; but it 
is as regards the very outset of the believer that the 
privilege of the assurance of faith is specially needed 
to be taught. If, then, the reader will bear in mind 
this omission, and supply it for himself, there are 
few books which he will find more useful " for in- 
struction in righteousness, that the man of Grod may 
be thoroughly furnished unto all good works." To 
such as relish Divine things, the reading of this book 
will be '' as a word fitly spoken," and '^ like apples 
of 2:old in baskets* of silver." 

Wm. R. E'icholson. 

Philadelphia, March, 1877. 

* Proverbs xxv, 11. Margin. 



tJl : \k.i 



PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE: 



OR 



THE HEART OF MAN UNDER GRACIOUS DISCIPLINE. 



THE HEART'S CORRUPTIOK 

" ' The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : 
who can know it?" — Jeremiah xvii, 9. 

Observation and experience will convince us that 
there is no subject on which man is so generally 
ignorant as that of the true character and state of 
the human heart. There is, however, none with 
which it is of more consequence to be acquainted: 
the question how we may in any degree attain to 
such knowledge, therefore, becomes highly import- 
ant. Certain it is, that no power short of the 
Almighty Spirit can prove an effectual teacher in 
this pursuit, and to Him we must look for true illu- 
mination of mind. Yet as He is pleased in many 
instances to work through the instrumentality of 
those persons who are already under divine opera- 
tion, it affords encouragement to the charity and zeal 
of faith thus to work; and souls truly imbued with 
1 9 



10 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

heavenly affections will not fail to seek the powerful 
presence of the Spirit in this effort of love. It is a 
blessed endeavor when they who are constituted by 
the Lord "the light of the world" labor to shed 
forth the supernatural rays that emanate from the 
divine life; and yet more blessed when, by the 
attendant grace of the Holy Grhost, sinners are thus 
assisted in discovering their own condition, or saints 
cheered by stronger discernment of their regenerate 
state. It may be that the Lord will acknowledge 
the feeble attempt presented through these pages; 
His blessing is implored by the writer; may He 
answer the appeal by speaking in this form to the 
inquiring solicitude of any precious souls desiring to 
ascertain the point to which their steps, as spiritual 
pilgrims, have been conducted ! 

As a preliminary in the course of subjects proposed 
for our consideration, it will be necessary, in the first 
place, to ascertain in what sense the Scriptures make 
use of the phrase " The heart of man.''' By comparing 
several passages which present this expression, we 
shall discover that the Holy Spirit's evident design 
is to describe the source of man's desires, feelings, 
passions, sentiments, or actions. Thus it is said 
in Matt, xii, 34, '' Out of the abundance of the hearty 
the mouth speaketh:" so in Prov. iv, 23, that 
out of the heart are the issues of life : and again in 
Prov. xix, 21, '' There are many devices in a man's 



THE heart's corruption. 11 

heart." In these and similar passages, the sense is 
quite clear; man being considered as giving forth, 
from this internal spring, the demonstration of his 
character and principles. In its original, the spring 
was pure and uncorrupt. The gracious Creator 
beheld His own work with complacent delight, pro- 
nouncing the testimony that it was ''very good.'' 
Consequently, desires, feelings, passions, sentiments, 
actions, must have been holy, and every issue from 
the heart in accordance with the nature of holy affec- 
tions. Alas ! this pure original is lost to man ; and, 
according to the word of God, we behold the awful 
reverse. The creature made by Him upright, has 
sought out many ''inventions :'' he has departed from 
the simplicity of affiance in God; he ceases to con- 
tent himself with the only satisfying object, and 
must have many sources of delight, " inventions,'' that 
is, things without reality: imaginary pleasures, and 
gratifications formed in the conceit of a vitiated 
heart. Man's heart is, accordingly, from the time 
of its apostasy, described as giving forth a perpetual 
issue of evil, as it is written, "Every imagination 
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, contin- 
ually," Gen. vi, 5. "An evil man out of the evil 
treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is 
evil," Luke vi, 45 : words spoken, not of one man, or 
of one generation of men, but of all men universally; 
for " out of the heart proceed evil thoughts," etc.. 



12 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Matthew xv, 19. ''The heart" being "deceitful 
above all things, and desperately wicked." Jer. 
xvii, 9. 

This is an awful testimony of the native corrup- 
tion of man, rendered still more affecting, and alarm- 
ing to the reflective mind, by the further revelations 
from God, by which he has particularized some of its 
spiritual maladies, and exposed the hidden evil. To 
this revelation we are bound to giv.e our decided 
attention. Infinite mercy has afforded us the sight, 
and invited us by this means to consider well the 
misery to which we are reduced, and the absolute 
necessity of finding an almighty helper, if ever we 
would attain to that spiritual soundness and final 
blessedness belonging properly to man as created 
by and for God. 

There \^ 2i, hardness andinsensibilit}/, belonging to 
man's sinful heart, which is the constant subject of 
reproach and rebuke. He has no fear of God before 
his eyes. Psalm xxxvi, 1 : he has no dread of trans- 
gression in his soul ; the divine glory, the holy law, 
the final judgment, are alike contemned and disre- 
garded; and as a creature deliberately and volunta- 
rily given up to impenitency, he refuses to hearken, 
pulls away the shoulder, stops the ear, and makes his 
heart harder than an adamantine stone, lest the 
words of the Lord should be heard or felt. Such 
lamentable evils are described thus in the sacred 



THE heart's corruption. 13 

Scriptures, and not by any exaggeration of the evil. 
Alas ! the visible course pursued by sinners affords 
an incontrovertible evidence of the fact. The stony 
heart is manifestly thus insensible and obstinate; 
and we behold the transgressor unalarmed by the 
terrors of the Almighty, untouched by the "divine 
compassions of the Lord, unconscious of the disgrace 
and ruin awaiting him, and unmindful of the pro- 
clamation of gospel mercy. Thus man coolly deter- 
mines to prosecute his own way, regardless of reve- 
lation, and disdaining reproof. 

By another affecting figure God has been pleased 
to proclaim to man his fearful loss of conformity to 
the divine nature, and his likeness to the fallen 
spirits. He is described as full of darkness. The ray 
of glory which illumined his soul when innocent is 
now withdrawn, and spiritual light is extinguished. 
He loves to have it so, and is ever engaged in 
excluding every beam that would obtrude. He 
loves darkness rather than light, because his, deeds 
are evil; delighting in the service of Satan, he 
seeks to shroud himself beneath his mantle ; and 
would fain forever shut out the troublesome light, 
which makes manifest what he would not behold. 
Thus, whether it shines through the Word, or provi- 
dence, or Christian profession, or seeks to gain an 
entrance through the conscience, it is alike hated 
and resisted. John iii, 19. But this is not all; man 
1* 



14 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

is not only described as full of darkness, but as 
darkness! The whole of his existence is, in a spiritual 
sense, under this dominion: he lives under the 
power of infatuated counsels and destructive pas- 
sions, the nature and end of which he does not 
comprehend; as it is written, "The way of the 
wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they 
stumble," Prov. iv, 19 : " because that darkness hath 
filled their hearts," and their nature is entirely assimi- 
lated with that of Satan. Romans i, 21; Col. i, 13. 

But there is another foul accompaniment of this 
spiritual ruin. "The heart is deceitful above all 
things;" and whether we look to its development 
in the things which relate to God, to man, or to 
himself, we see its willful hypocrisy and deep delu- 
sion. It is a traitor, confederate with Satan, and 
intent upon securing present ease in present plea- 
sure. Innumerable are its resources whereby to lull 
or to persuade the soul into false peace. Sometimes 
by arguments which seek to justify evil; sometimes 
by vain pretenses which would bribe the conscience 
to admit of temporary compliance with sin; and 
sometimes by a daring attempt to rest upon divine 
mercy, notwithstanding the indulgence of sin. Thus 
we hear and feel in ourselves, as sinners, reasonings 
which are subtle, imposing, and plausible, forged 
out of the heart's corruption, and greedily adopted 
as an excuse for rebellion. How many are daily 



THE heart's corruption. 15 

engaged in uttering insincere expressions of good 
wishes, good intentions, future purposes, which mean 
nothing more than an excuse from immediate com- 
pliance with a known duty ! — and how many, under 
the power of this delusion, are ready to exclaim, " ' I 
shall have peace though I add drunkenness to 
thirst,' Deut. xxix, 19 : ' God is merciful,' and I 
shall not be cast away." Here a deceitful heart is 
treacherously working to the destruction of the soul. 
The miserable individual hath, as the Scriptures 
express it, "a deceitful heart;" it turneth him aside, 
so that he cannot say, "Is there not a lie in my right 
hand?" Isaiah xliv, 20. His professed approaches to 
God are of the same character. He will probably 
occasionally enter His courts, or raise his voice in the 
language of prayer or praise, but his are '^ flattering 
lips," his is "a double heart," "a double mind;" his 
are '' bodily exercises, which profit nothing;" and his 
bended knee, voluntary tear, and proffered vows, are 
all but the appearance of religion, assumed for the 
purpose of covering the heart's abomination, but by 
no means intended to procure deliverance through 
the covenant provision of salvation. The expressions 
found in God's Word strikingly describe the state of 
such. " They are deceitful upon the weights ;" " they 
are dissemblers with God;" they are ''a deceitful 
bow;" they pretend to wing an arrow to the true 
object, but they willfully miss the mark. This 



16 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

deceitful movement of the heart will frequently pro- 
duce a very awful degree of hypocrisy in the con- 
cerns of the soul, and also in profession before fellow 
men. Many there are w^ho, although quite indifferent 
to the result of God's scrutiny, are solicitous to escape 
the censure of man. They desire to obtain a degree 
of respectability in life, and would have a certain 
measure of approbation from the religious. Hence, 
there are in the world, and in the professing church, 
thousands who are deceived and deceiving : the heart 
of man being altogether thus evil and treacherous. 

We cannot be surprised that a region thus corrupt 
should produce evil correspondent to the strongest 
terms adopted in the Scriptures. We cease to won- 
der that man is described as ''desperately wicked^^ that 
is, desperately lawless, breaking the yoke which 
divine precept purposes, and rushing into manifest 
revolt from God. Nor can we withhold our assent 
to the propriety with which the apostate is stigma- 
tized as such by the Lord, since it is evident that 
idols occupy the seat where God should reign, and 
that these require and receive from man incessant 
homage ; he gives it with alacrity as a willing votary, 
and his heart is fully set in him to do evil. Ecc. ix, 3. 

This is that interior region of man so little known 
by himself, yet so awfully exposed to the scrutiny of 
God. This is that evil thing, the heart, of which he 
is so prone to boast as good, in which he so confi- 



THE heart's corruption. 17 

dently trusts as true, and which, even when he is 
forced by passing fears to search, he examines so 
superficially, so deceitfully, and allows to be healed 
so falsely. let us not be of those who confide in 
such a known traitor, but rather pause, and meditate 
upon the divine revelation, comparing it with our 
own experience. Evidences will then arise before 
our convicted consciences, which will tend to silence 
the spirit of self-approbation, and we shall, through 
the humiliation of an enlightened mind, be better 
prepared patiently to follow the Healing Guide, who, 
by powerful operations in the soul, leads out the 
redeemed to liberty. 

If we admit the fact that the Lord alone has a 
sovereign right to the possession of our heart, its 
apostasy and falsehood will be undeniable. From 
infancy we have preferred every childish vanity 
before the Lord, giving individual confirmation to 
the divine Word, which declares that "foolishness is 
bound in the heart of a child." Prov. xxii, 15. Our 
maturer years have been attended with more matured 
expression of this native departure from the Most 
High. As it is unquestionably true "where our 
treasure is, there will be our heart also," so is it 
undoubted that our treasures have been amidst crea- 
tures, earthly pleasures, objects of sense, and that 
these have had our heart. We, therefore, come under 
condemnation; as soon as we were born, we w^ent 



18 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

astray, and have wandered every one into his own 
way. Matt, vi, 21; Ps. Iviii, 3; Isa. liii, 6. That our 
own heart has proved itself to be hard and insensible 
is speedily discoverable. Surely we must be sensible 
that our life has been one of wicked indifference to 
every consideration which ought to affect an im- 
mortal and rational creature. The terrible law of 
God, with all its destroying denunciations, has been 
but as an empty, unmeaning sound in our ears; not 
all the thunders of Sinai have roused us from our 
lethargy; not all the examples of judgment which 
the Almighty Judge has brought before our eyes 
have excited one personal alarm; awaiting scenes 
have had no terror to us; we have lived at ease 
amidst gathering storms and a lowering sky. The 
gentle Gospel, with all its sublimity, and glory, and 
grace, has been equally disregarded. We have 
evinced our native obduracy by a practical contempt 
of the blessed revelation; we have neglected the 
ordinances where its messages are delivered to sinful 
men; or, when in the ordinances, have retained the 
insensibility of a cold and obdurate heart. These 
are unquestionable demonstrations of our participa- 
tion in the general apostasy of man. ITeither can 
we be permitted to plead that we differ from others, 
though on some occasions the Word has been attended 
with convicting power. Many may, by the force of 
the blow which it inflicts, be made transiently to 



THE heart's corruption. 19 

tremble ; many may, by the melting strains of the 
Gospel, be touched, by a passing sympathy, with 
which it addresses itself to human feeling, who 
nevertheless are not removed from transgression, 
nor won to Christ. But the Lord has various methods 
by which to draw near to the heart: these He has no 
doubt in measure used toward us : dispensations of a 
correcting kind, such as sickness, grief, suffering, 
have been sent upon us. Mercies also, of abundant 
kinds, have been dispensed. We have been raised 
from sickness, we have been delivered from grief, 
we have been restored to peace. Yet, in all these 
instances, we have received the visitation only to 
renew our tokens of insensibility and ingratitude ; 
we have not heard a voice in these things, we have 
not inquired whether there were a cause for the 
chastisement; nor have we, for the mercy, returned 
to give glory to God ! Alas, we have remained im- 
penitent, prayerless, unthankful ! It is probable, in 
the experience of relief from sadness, some tributes 
of gratitude and affection have been distributed 
among those whom the Lord raised up to be our 
helpers; but the Author of these mercies has been for- 
gotten or unknown. We have also had occasions 
wherein we might observe the divine providence as 
acting toward others. Sinners have been cut off in 
their crimes, and hurried to God's dreadful tribunal 
without a moment's space for repentance and faith. 



20 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Saints have been called from a course of obedience 
and devotion, ripe for their inheritance, and mani- 
festly triumphing over death and hell. Yet these 
events have not had in them interest sufficient to 
awaken any corresponding affection within us: we 
have been satisfied with some unmeaning exclama- 
tion of wonder or admiration, and have dismissed 
the consideration as no longer of any moment to us. 
Are not these conclusive marks of our heart's cor- 
ruption? Let us, after these reflections, compare 
ourselves with what is further to be gathered from 
the Scripture testimony in Hosea vii, 11 ; Prov. xvii, 
16; Ecc. viii, 11; Is. Ivii, 1. 

By the light which possibly may thus obtain ad- 
mittance into our minds, let us endeavor to under- 
stand the darkness which has prevailed. What mani- 
fest infatuation has attended our past steps, when we 
walked in a way of our own devising, and chose to 
trust in and obey the dictates of passion ! How awful 
our blindness when following bewildering guides, 
and surrendering ourselves to the rule of the world 
and Satan ! surely we now perceive that we rushed 
upon a thousand deaths, and madly trifled with the 
accursed thing. Surely we now feel that we trea- 
sured up to ourselves also a thousand griefs, and 
pierced ourselves through with many sorrows; and 
all "because that darkness had blinded our eyes;" 
"the wa}^ of peace we had not known;" and our 



THE heart's corruption. 21 

"foolish heart was darkened." Prov. xxviii, 26; 
Eph. iv, 18; Ps. xcv, 10. 

Let us perceive and be humbled for the manifest 
deceitfulness of our heart: in innumerable instances 
it has fulfilled the Scripture witness, having acted 
the part of a betrayer to our souls ; and we can now 
probably detect its past treachery. The recollection 
of its delusive reasonings, its subterfuges and hypoc- 
risy, should fill us with prostration of soul before 
Grod, and awaken the expression of wonder, and 
admiration of His long forbearance. 

If duly impressed by this evidence of our own cor- 
ruption, we shall be better prepared for entering into 
the subjects which lie before us, and for appreciating 
the several operations of grace through which they 
who are recovered from this state of degradation are 
led by the Spirit. In the meantime we should seek 
for a due sense of the evil we have discovered. It 
is not enough that we should be convinced of the 
disease^ we must also feel the tormeM which con- 
sciousness of disease produces upon an awakened 
conscience, and know likewise that to disease and 
torment there is added a certain result of eternal 
woe to all who die in this native condition. It is 
from the Holy Ghost alone that influences of this 
description are experienced; our supplication should 
in consequence be directed to the mercy seat for the 
descent of this divine witness. We should ask Him 
2 



22 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

to produce within us the practical result of self- 
knowledge, beseeching Him to quicken us to the 
spiritual affections of watchfulness, faith, and hope, 
and that what we know not He would vouchsafe to 
reveal. It is a hopeful pledge of further mercies, 
when we are made sensible that "the heart of the 
wicked is little worth," Prov. x, 20, and that our 
own heart is worthy nothing but condemnation. 
Under this persuasion, we shall be prepared to 
"abhor ourselves in dust and ashes," and to "place 
no confidence in the flesh." The imposing appear- 
ances, which have hitherto deceived us, must be 
detected and exposed, so as to produce this self- 
distrust. We are destitute of all goodness, might, 
or power; we must know this to be our destitution, 
and should accept the conviction as a pledge of 
mercy. There are many precious considerations 
afforded us in the Gospel, which may encourage and 
support us, whilst venturing thus to explore and 
expose the inward man. Without these, a sinner may 
be expected to shrink from the overwhelming dis- 
covery ; but furnished with the blessed testimony that 
issues from a covenant God, the work may be prose- 
cuted without producing despair. The salvation 
that is in Jesus provides for the recovery, the soften- 
ing, the illuminating, the purifying of the heart, and 
to this blessed remedy we are continually exhorted 
to direct the eye of faith. A true sense of danger, 



THE heart's corruption. 23 

so far from generating distrust, or a hypocritical 
attempt to conceal its extent, will produce an ingen- 
uous effort to expose the whole, with a penitential 
confession, and a fervent appeal to Him before whose 
scrutinizing presence we do in fact always appear. 
Let this be the frame of mind we earnestly covet, 
and let a teachable acceptance of the word of con- 
viction and reproof prevail in our soul, and be pre- 
sented before God. 



24 PEOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE HEART UNDER CONYICTIOI^. 

" And when he is come, he will reprove {or convince) the world of 
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment : of sin, because they 
believe not on me ; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, 
and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the princs of this 
world is judged."— John xvi, 8-11. 

We were led by our last investigation of the heart 
of man to the affecting sight of that debased condi- 
tion to which the sinner is fallen as an apostate from 
God, and as exhibiting his wretched alienation in the 
midst of spiritual insensibility, darkness, and insin- 
cerity. We are engaged in an inquiry, however, 
which will conduct us into further discoveries of the 
corruption of man's heart. For, although our great 
object is to examine the methods by which Jehovah 
receives His creature to holy adherence to Himself, 
we have much to interest us in the variety of expe- 
dients upon which the infatuated sinner enters, in 
order to evade the divine operation. And we have 
also to show how far even they who never experience 
the effectual call which decides their affections on 
the acceptance of the cross, may be influenced by 
certain accompaniments which belong to the media- 
torial government that is at present dispensed to the 



THE HEART UNDER CONVICTION. 25 

world. On the present occasion we will consider 
the. state of conviction. 

By conviction we are to understand something 
much more comprehensive than what is generally 
intended by this term. Usually men adopt it in 
religious subjects to express a sense of sin and per- 
sonal demerit. But we shall perceive, upon reflection, 
that this is not sufficiently explicit, neither suffi- 
ciently enlarged in its intentions, to answer the end 
of a suitable interpretation, since it is evident that 
there may be strong conviction in the mind of a 
sinner, without any attendant sense of individual 
ruin. 

Conviction is frequently operative in the judgment, 
when it passes no further, and never reaches the 
heart. It is, however, a necessary experience as put 
in opposition to that state of spiritual darkness which, 
as we have shown, pervades, blinds, and prejudices 
lost apostate man: and thus far it is valuable. 

It consists of such a measure of light in the un- 
derstanding as convinces the soul that whatever is 
revealed in the Scriptures is truth. The unillumined 
mind is infidel in this respect. It is usually entirely 
indifferent to the sacred Record, not receiving it 
with any interest, not attaching any importance 
to its contents, not admitting it as a standard of 
judgment; as it is written of the sinner, " his ways are 
always grievous: thy judgments are far above out of 
2* 



26 PKOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Ms sight ^^^ Ps. x, 5. If the divine testimony is brought 
near and proposed, it contradicts and blasphemes: 
it will not believe the report, and despises it, and, as 
is affirmed of sinners of old, speaks " evil of the right 
way," Is. liii, 1; Acts xix, 8, 9. Light poured in 
upon the judgment will remove this obstacle ; and 
men under this influence, listening to the revelation 
of God's law, are convinced of its excellency, and of 
its divine sanction, at the same time that they admit 
the propriety and equity of this rule of judgment. 
This was an eiFect of the Gospel produced among 
the Ephesians through the preaching of Apollos, and 
of whom it is said, "he mightily convinced the Jews, 
showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ," 
Acts xviii, 28. And for this effect the apostle shows 
that the laborer should be solicitous, " holding fast 
the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he 
may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and 
to convince the gainsayers," Titus i, 9. An advan- 
tage is hereby obtained for the further reception of 
truth, and proposal of the cross; and this is an ad- 
vantage which frequently accompanies the dispensa- 
tion of the Gospel to a particular congregation and 
people favored with the ministration of the pure 
word; they are satisfied that what their ministers 
propose to them is according to truth, and that they 
are urged upon points that must be considered im- 
portant, as corresponding with a revelation which 



THE HEART UNDER CONVICTION. 27 

they no longer dispute or wholly disregard. This is 
conviction in the judgment. 

A further degree of this operation is experienced 
when there is also an excitement in the conscience, 
producing a conviction that, Scripture being truth, 
there awaits the creature in a future world certain 
results of his present course, which Grod will cer- 
tainly accomplish. Persons of this description are 
persuaded that the denunciations of the Lord against 
transgressors are no unmeaning words, and that as 
God is true, so surely His enemies will perish. They 
know, as the Scripture expresses it, that the judgment 
of Grod is against sinners, and that they which commit 
such things are worthy of death, Rom. i, 32. They 
anticipate the execution of the sentence when they 
contemplate men in the highway of rebellion, and 
will frequently exclaim against their career, and talk 
of the overhanging vengeance which threatens the 
impenitent. They are equally persuaded that the 
divine promises shall be fulfilled, and that, so far from 
the life of a saint being chargeable, as they once 
thought, with folly and wild enthusiasm, it is honor- 
able, and shall be recompensed. They know that 
" God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dili- 
gently seek him, " Heb. xi, 6; and they frequently 
contemplate the course of the devoted with admira- 
tion; they understand somewhat of its high peculi- 
arities, and will say, " These are the happiest people !" 



28 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

They are also fully convinced tliere is not the enjoy- 
ment in the service of sin which they once madly 
hoped and expected: they have seen its issue in 
others, and that God 's word is established in their 
example; " destruction and misery are in their ways : 
and the way of peace have they not known :" Rom. iii, 
16, 17. They look on the thousands who are ruined 
by crime, in character, in body, and in soul: and 
not only do they contemplate these results in other 
seekers of forbidden joys, but their own experience 
has confirmed what they contemplate; they have 
found "vanity and vexation of spirit," internal 
misery, loss of peace, and perhaps of character; they 
have lived to reap the disgraceful consequences of 
sin, and are covered with a cloud. They are per- 
suaded also, when comparing the present state of 
believers with that of the transgressor, that the saint 
possesses the real good; and the conscience is under 
the full power of conviction, so far as this experience 
extends: according to the apostle's words, we trust 
also we are made manifest to your consciences, 2 
Cor. V, 11. 

A still further degree of this conviction passes 
through the sinner when these influences are at- 
tended with certain excitements in the heart, and 
the judgment and conscience forcibly address the 
affections. This is the case when reflection awakens 
misgivings and heart-sickening fears; the sound 



THE HEART UNDER CONVICTION. 29 

of holy reasoning upon soberness, temperance, and 
judgment to come, creating alarms, and causing the 
soul, Felix-like, to tremble. Acts xxiv, 25. This is 
frequently the case in all ages. Thus men, under 
the preaching of the word, will sometimes be pricked 
in the heart, that is, be convicted by strong emotions, 
which give witness to the force and truth of the con- 
demning testimony. Acts ii. 37. Or, when they see 
the judgments of God abroad in the earth, or hear 
of the impending woes that are likely to fall upon 
the guilty world, they are filled with conscious terror, 
and dread the nearer approach of vengeance. Or, 
when their mortal tabernacle sickens, and they feel 
the undeniable evidence of their own uncertain con- 
tinuance here, they are depressed, anxious, harassed 
in the consciousness of unpreparedness for eternity. 
And when the visitation of death does really come, 
they meet it in awful dismay : the reluctant soul is 
torn from its habitation, and leaves it in the midst 
of an agonizing sense of the curse. It is possible, 
however, that conviction of heart may exist in a form 
more apparently hopeful : as when, for instance, the 
softer sounds of Gospel fullness of mercy and peace 
bid the afifections move to purposes of love: the 
affecting details of salvation in the blood and merit 
of Jesus touching the heart, and recommending the 
merciful Author of the blessing. At these times 
God is seen with glimmerings of light upon His 



30 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

blessed name and nature, and He is confessed to be 
worthy the devotion of the whole heart. These are 
influences not unfrequently produced by the force of 
emphatic speaking, or human eloquence : and whilst 
the strain is heard, every feeling seems held in a 
sweet captivity. Subjects already approved in the 
judgment and conscience now seem to win upon 
the consent of the affections, and innumerable resolu- 
tions flutter round the heart, and the cross begins to 
have some appearance of attraction. These are con- 
victions in the affections, and answer to what we 
read of many of old. Thus the man in the Gospel 
seemed willing to profess, saying, " Lord, I will follow 
thee whithersoever thou goest," Luke ix, 57. And 
Agrippa could exclaim, "Almost thou persuadest 
me to be a Christian, Acts xxvi, 28. 

Thus we perceive how conviction may operate, 
separately, either upon judgment, or conscience, or 
feeling, or in the whole: and yet, as will appear 
evident upon further examination, be frequently 
distinct from conversion. It becomes, however, a 
very important duty, that we endeavor to satisfy 
ourselves as to the origin of such excitements. 

Undoubtedly they proceed from the Holy Ghost. 
Since fallen man's judgment is darkness, his con- 
science hard and unfeeling, and his affections apos- 
tate, and cold, and dead, from such a source there 
can be no knowledge, no conviction, no passing 



THE HEART UNDER CONVICTION. 31 

excitement toward God. And we should recollect, 
when investigating these subjects, a very important 
part of revelation, which respects the kingdom of 
Christ. We are taught by the Scriptures, that all 
influences, or manifestations from God to man, are 
lost by the fall ; in token of which he was sent forth 
from Eden into his degraded condition as an outcast 
and alien. We are taught that divine manifesta- 
tions or influences are only restored in virtue of 
Christ's undertaking, which places the world 
under a present mediatorial reign, the covenant of 
grace having provided this interposition between the 
alien and immediate ruin, and brought sinners under 
the general advantage of a dispensation of forbear- 
ance. That in consequence of this dispensation, the 
Holy Ghost inhabits the earth as a witness, coming 
forth to testify of the covenant, and to fulfill His office 
to man. And thus it is that He is frequently a witness 
to man in the way we have described, and as it is de- 
clared by our Lord, " When He is come He will con- 
vince the world ;^' men in general, men yet in their 
state of nature. These shall receive the convicting 
evidence which shall justify and exalt Jehovah, 
John xvi, 8-11. In all instances, therefore, such as 
we have here contemplated, we are to consider the 
conviction as produced by the Holy Ghost. 

These convictions, however, are evidently not 
always of a saving character. We have abundant 



32 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

examples in the Scripture, of persons under these 
operations, who were destitute of true faith. 
Thus, for instance, Balaam could exclaim, "I have 
sinned:" and yet more, could add, "Now, there- 
fore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again," 
JSTumb. xxii, 34. Saul is heard to confess, " I have 
sinned," and, under dread of disgrace, could im- 
portune Samuel, saying, " Yet honor me now before 
the people," 1 Sam. xv, 30. Pharaoh was sensible 
of having committed dangerous provocation, and 
acknowledged, I have sinned this time, entreat the 
Lord for me, Exod. ix, 27. Judas was full of 
anguish at his horrible crime, and in self-condemna- 
tion exclaimed, "I have betrayed the innocent 
blood," Matt, xxvii, 4. And the Jews, on a certain 
occasion, recorded in John viii, 9, went out from the 
presence of Jesus one by one, being convicted in their 
consciences. But in all these instances, it is manifest, 
there was only conviction. We are also quite assured 
that many who are under the sentence of accom- 
plished wrath are convicted. Devils believe and trem- 
ble, and confess, "• Thou art the Christ." Men given 
up to a state of reprobacy believe, and carry within 
them the ripened spirit of apostasy, either in deliber- 
ate despair, or daring controversy with their Judge ; 
having the horror of conviction in a fearful looking 
for of judgment to come, and fiery indignation which 
shall devour the adversary. And all who are finally 



THE HEART UNDER CONVICTION. 33 

judged will carry with them this abiding increase of 
their torment : they shall be convicted. For He shall 
come " to execute judgment upon all, and to convince 
all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly 
deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of 
all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have 
spoken against him," Jude 15. 

From these considerations, it becomes evident 
that there are what we may style common and 
special operations of the Holy Ghost, as He is a 
Witness; so that we cannot decide upon the state of 
a soul merely by conviction. This stage of experi- 
ence may be entered by sinners who never embrace 
salvation, and therefore should not satisfy us either 
for ourselves or others ; for although it is requisite 
as preparatory for the reception of further revelation, 
it is not in itself a decided evidence of a regenerate 
state. This is strikingly set forth in Heb. vi, wherein 
we have a history of very extensive operations known 
by persons who never were sanctified, and who con- 
sequently had not passed from death to life. We 
may be enlightened, we may taste or make experi- 
ment of the heavenly gift, or Gospel, or good word 
of God, or the powers of the world to come; we may 
partake of the Holy Ghost as a witness, or as the 
author of gifts; yet with all this we may yet be as 
the earth, still bringing forth briars and thorns, and 
eventually falling away even from our convictions or 
3 



34 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

profession; seeing that even during the period in 
which we possessed this dispensation of the Spirit 
we were unchanged in character, nigh unto cursing, 
and tending to the end of all unregenerate souls: 
see Heb. vi, 4-8. 

This subject should be exceedingly interesting to 
us as an assistant in searching our own heart. It 
should excite us to discrimination when judging of 
the condition in which we stand at this moment 
before God; and we should be aware of the peril 
which surrounds us, if we are disposed to speak com- 
fortably to ourselves, merely on the supposition that 
because we are not quite so ignorant, so easy, or so 
unfeeling as we once were, our prospect therefore is 
bright. Thus far indeed it may be hopeful; but much 
more is necessary ere we can pronounce it safe. 

In the first place, however, we must endeavor to 
ascertain whether even we have conviction as thus 
extensively understood. It should be no surprising 
question. Do we believe the prophets ? Do we come to 
the Scripture testimony as truth, so that we are prac- 
tically giving demonstration that our judgment is 
convinced? Alas! in too many instances, where by 
the lip confession is made, and the word of God is 
received in customary acknowledgment of its divine 
origin, there is an indisputable manifestation of 
infidelity in the heart and mind. Witness the irrever- 
ence, the bold speculative curiosity, the unchecked 



THE HEART UNDER CONVICTION. 35 

career of vice, the indulgence of desires and passions 
forbidden by the word, the cold unconcern in which 
the terrible or gracious truths of Scripture are heard, 
yea, sometimes scarcely heard! Dispositions so con- 
spicuously attendant upon those who assemble jpro- 
fessedly to hear the truth, that we are constrained to 
acknowledge the propriety of the question. Do I 
really possess a convinced mind on these important 
points? Am I quite sure that I am hastening to 
eternal misery or eternal joy? that before me there 
are two wide extremes ; that in a few years at most, 
and probably this very night, I may be called to an 
abode from which there is no return ; that judg- 
ment awaits me according to God's un deviating rule; 
and that without an interest in Christ I am lost for 
ever? Alas! even with saints there is frequently a 
want of excitement such as these subjects demand, 
and therefore the inquiry may well be urged upon 
the generality of worshipers. 

Let us also ask whether we are experimentally 
acquainted with the seizure of conscience and feel- 
ings so far as described, having felt the misery of 
sin, and knowing that God's children alone are 
happy. 1^0 doubt some who read these lines have 
experienced all these influences from time to time ; 
and it is a privilege if we are able to ascertain the 
fact : much is it to be preferred to the wretched con- 
dition of avowed infidelity, and to the destructive 



36 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

reign of a fatal stupor : and most miserable are they 
among us who are still so infatuated and hardened 
by the power of their native apostasy, as not to have 
known even this degree of excitement. But let the 
friendly voice of warning be heard; let us consider 
how increasingly responsible to God we become by 
every movement which agitates the conscience or 
heart, and that, if after these influences we remain in 
estrangement and indecision, we are increasing our 
condemnation, because thereby we evince our jpre- 
ference for a state of alienation, our greater love of 
earth, and of carnal delights, than of those which 
the Gospel proposes; and that, notwithstanding so 
many powerful motives to the contrary, we deliber- 
ately make choice of evil. This is a provocation 
which usually conducts to a state of reprobacy, for it 
is an insult to the Holy Ghost, and direct rebellion 
under the most aggravating circumstances. And it 
is also the high road to an awful measure of misery; 
for sooner or later this sin will find out the sinner, 
and abused opportunities and resisted convictions 
produce a never-dying worm. 

Here we will close our present investigation, leav- 
ing it as a solemn charge upon our souls, that we 
dismiss not the reflections that are suggested, without 
seeking a suitable improvement. This may be done 
by combining sacred awe with a tribute of grati- 
tude. We have just reason to be thankful if we are 



THE HEART UNDER CONVICTION. 37 

awakened to self-distrust: we liave greater reason 
for thankfulness if we are delivered from our former 
state of insensibility : we should contrast our present 
feelings with what we once were whilst wholly un- 
moved by truth. It is a mercy that we are not openly 
infidel, and living in avowed defiance of Jehovah. 
It is a mercy that we know in some degree what is 
truth, so that we are not tossed to and fro, or carried 
away by winds of doctrine. It is a mercy that we 
believe the promise and the threat, knowing that 
there is substance in them. Pangs of conscience 
also are mercies: they are preferable to a conscience 
that is seared. Meltings of feelings are mercies: 
better than the obduracy of a rocky heart. In these 
we should be thankful, and demonstrate our sense 
of the goodness that has been extended in them, by 
prosecuting the way of hearing, reading, and self- 
examination, and by fostering their influences in the 
use of all appointed means. Above all, praying for 
the special grace of the Holy Ghost, looking to Him 
for an effectual call, and acting as rational and respon- 
sible creatures, corresfondently with the conviction that 
pervades our mind. , 



3* 



38 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE DIYIDINa OF THE HEART. 

"Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he 
shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images." — 
HosEA X, 2. 

We have advanced so far with this course of suh- 
jects as to have before us the Scripture account of 
man's fallen condition as corrupt in heart, and the 
powerful degree to which, in his yet unconverted 
state, he is capable of being convicted^ his judgment 
and conscience having received light, and these 
having addressed and excited his natural feelings. 
Our object must now be to follow this view with 
an examination into the effects which are frequently 
produced by these convictions. Faculties thus far 
awakened will usually proceed to make an appeal to 
the will: they invite the sinner to determine on the 
side of truth, and to make a corresponding surrender 
of himself, urging upon him those considerations 
which he now admits to be of substantial and awful 
import, and to make him willing to choose the good. 

It is undeniable that appeals such as these are 
visibly silenced and neglected by thousands of our 
fellow-creatures, and that notwithstanding all the 
arguments, justly presented and well founded, with 
which the claimants enforce their counsel, man 



THE DIVIDING OF THE HEART. 39 

remains in his unchanged and natural alienation 
from God. But this is sometimes attended with 
very plausible appearances, by which self-deception 
is practiced. Therefore we should endeavor to pene- 
trate into the secret condition of such persons, and 
examine the nature of that miserable indecision of 
soul by which they are ruined, lest any of us be 
deceived by the same destructive reasonings. For 
this purpose let us select a few instances wherein we 
may discover, and present to our close observation, 
the secret workings of that fatal leaven, which, in 
these characters, will generally produce what we 
may call a divided heart. 

In the first place, it must be observed that persons 
convicted in judgment, conscience and feeling are 
usually brought to acknowledge that a personal 
surrender to the forcible truths they admit is required, 
and would be wise. This inward acknowledgment, 
existing in the midst of an unconverted heart, meets 
with much to debase its quality, and to impede its 
action. One of the first attempts, therefore, which 
the sinner makes, on these occasions, is to reason 
himself into a belief that he can answer the obliga- 
tion in such a way as shall exempt him from incon- 
venience ; in short, that it is quite possible so to serve 
God, as not to break his league with the world. 
TJnder this notion, his object is to reconcile the ser- 
vice of two masters^ Christ and Belial. 



40 PEOGRESSIVE EXPEEIENCE. 

This design originates in awakened and convinced 
faculties. The sinner is, as we have shown, con- 
vinced of the superiority of the Christian's posses- 
sions : he believes what is promised to the saints of 
deliverance in trial, security in death, a kingdom of 
glory and everlasting rest. He is not disposed to 
relinquish the hope of sharing in these distinctions : 
he would be supported, received, and have peace at 
last, and, Balaam-like, expresses his passing desire, 
" Let me die the death of the righteous." Being 
equally persuaded of the misery that awaits the im- 
penitent, he has also on this ground strong excite- 
ment: he does not like deliberately to meet the 
dreadful evils denounced upon sinners, and when 
he thinks of trial, death, and future scenes, he, 
like Ahab, would put on sackcloth and walk softly. 
Therefore he would seem to accept the remonstrance, 
and meet the invitations of truth, and wishes to be 
accounted among the number of those who enlist 
themselves in the service of the Most High. In this 
way he hopes to escape divine judgment, and that 
Grod will count him for a friend. He hopes that he 
shall hereby evade the denunciations and reproofs of 
m.inisters, and that his soul shall be left untroubled, 
and that at least some of the Christian privileges may 
be tasted by him. Thus, in the spirit of the Jews 
of old, he flatters himself in his own eyes ; and even 
when hearing the denunciations which condemn his 



THE DIVIDING OF THE HEART. 41 

soul, like them, he confidently exclaims, " God for- 
bid." Luke XX, 16. 

There are also other powerful considerations 
which bring in their arguments on the side of the 
world, and this master is in his turn listened to with 
attention. It is certain that if the sinner break 
from his yoke, he will immediately become liable to 
the rage of his old master. Persecution and scorn 
are the lot of saints. This is a heritage the very 
thought of which blights all his purposes toward 
God: he cannot endure to meet the evil which a 
bold separation from the world might produce. 
Besides all this, there are private feelings yet more 
powerful : the affections are closely entwined round 
earthly objects, creatures possess the heart, and 
some favorite idol possibly constitutes the very life 
of enjoyment to the soul. To disentangle the 
thoughts from these, to rend away the entwined 
affections, and quit the loved hold upon what has 
hitherto been so dear; instead of smiles to meet their 
frowns; instead of tenderness to have to contend 
with reproof — this is intolerable to the mind, and 
the whole bosom is convulsed by the thought. In 
addition to this, there is still a charm of an irresisti- 
ble kind in the gay circle of worldly pleasures, and 
many enjoyments which seem to smile and court the 
sinner, asking him to seize the passing joy. And 
must he relinquish all these? and turn away from 



42 PROGEESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

patlis wliere flowers spread their carpet for the 
feet, and choose in preference a thorny way ? this 
is abhorrent to the flesh ! 

These feelings lead to a yet more confirmed reso- 
lution of endeavoring to unite the two services : and, 
therefore, along with an appearance of unison with 
the saints, he would seem to be upon the same 
friendly terms with the world as heretofore. He 
will not obtrude his convictions upon the company 
with whom he associates; he has no objection that it 
should be thought he likes the company of saints, 
owns them, and occasionally seeks them. The 
world may know that he has pleasure in hearing 
religious discussions; that he is rational enough to 
have some thought about his soul. But he gives it 
to be understood, that in so doing, he by no means 
intends to separate, or condemn the world, or the . 
opinion of others. He boasts of liberality, and that, 
in this disposition, he considers every man has a 
right to judge for himself. He occasionally accepts 
the invitations which call him to join the party of 
pleasure, and tastes the joys of earth, and can very 
conveniently hide the difference of sentiment that 
exists, and conceal his own views as expediency may 
suggest. 

But such an infatuated course is not pursued 
without accompanying inward rebuke: judgment, 
conscience, and feeling, are not satisfied by such 



THE DIVIDING OF THE HEART. 43 

lying refuges. Wherefore, in order to answer the 
remonstrances which arise, recourse is had to subtle 
reasonings. It is pretended that the evils incident 
to serious Christians are not for their religion^ but 
for their imprudence; that they are not cautious, not 
judicious, are too scrupulous, and give unnecessary 
offence. That the world is not so very evil as it is 
represented ; that, if let alone, it would not molest the 
saint; that, if entered with care, it would not defile; 
and that in fact, God is not so severe as really to 
intend to condemn so many thousands of his creatures 
as He must do were the sentiments of some believers 
quite correct. 

Thus miserable man is industrious to serve his 
own delusions, argues himself into false security, and 
is contented to remain with a divided heart. 

But it is not always thus. There are some who 
do not reason upon such principles. The force of 
conviction presents such a view of truth, that they 
are quite persuaded the world must be renounced. 
In consequence, they profess religion decidedly. They 
give up all worldly associations, abstain from all 
mixture, no more frequent the assembly, the race, 
the scene of dissipation; the gay circle has lost this 
associate. I^o concessions are ever heard, the life 
with steady severity testifies against the world, and 
boldly advocates the Scripture doctrines, '^o out- 
ward duty is omitted; Sabbaths, sacraments, religious 



44 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

meetings, all receive their regular attendance and 
honor; and thus far the character and profession 
appear determined. ITevertheless, there is not decU 
sion of heart There is not a correspondent inward 
surrender. All this exterior of devotion may subsist 
in persons whose interior is still under captivity to 
God's enemies. A favorite idol is reserved, and 
although so great as to eclipse the law, the gospel, 
and eternity itself, it is called a little one. Tempers 
and passions remain unmortilied, and, instead of 
being abhorred, are palliated under the pretence that 
they are constitutional infirmities^ and, although lament- 
able, that they are to be considered excusable, espe- 
cially when counterbalanced by so much zeal and 
scrupulous attention to other matters. By these a 
divided heart is not only allowed, but justified; and, 
like Jehu, they present some particular act or work 
foremost for observation, trusting that this will secure 
the character at which they aim. 2 Kings x, 31. 

We may mention another example of this ruinous 
division, too prevalent with many whose external 
I)rofession would promise better things. They are 
divided in heart in respect of the refuge they make 
to themselves. Doctrinally they are convinced of the 
truth, and know that there is no refuge but God, 
and none like Him. He only is powerful, He only is 
true. In this respect they can speak the language of 
saints, and say, "Where is a refuge like our God?" 



THE DIVIDING OF THE HEART. 45 

Yet they practically admit thousands to an equal if 
not to a greater measure of their confidence. Thus, 
for instance, they look for justification, knowing 
that this is a state absolutely necessary to salvation ; 
but in seeking it they lose sight of their own doc- 
trinal knowledge; and instead of putting on the 
righteousness of the Lord Jesus alone, they invent 
for themselves a garment woven of unscriptural 
materials, half of the Surety's work, and half of their 
own ; "professedly trusting in the merits of the Lord 
Christ, but practically adhering to their own, they 
look for pardon I This they are persuaded must be 
extended to them if ever they find acceptance before 
God. Convicted in their conscience, and convinced 
in their judgment also of their need and of the cove- 
nant provision, they profess to approach the opened 
Fountain in Jesus' blood; but when drawing near 
they cast into it certain ingredients of their own pro- 
viding — their own tears, and penitence, and vows ; 
these they expect will give virtue to the blood, and 
render it available to them : thus they mix their ex- 
pectations — part from the sacrifice on the cross, and 
part from the worthiness of their own humiliation 
before God. 

They look for victory! A convinced judgment 

has persuaded them that the church of Christ is to 

be triumphant, and that His people are to conquer 

their spiritual foes. They call for divine strength, 

4 



46 PROGKBSSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

profess to expect their triumphs through the om- 
nipotence of the Lord, and loudly protest against 
any other dependence. E'evertheless, they practically 
deny their own profession, expect much from their 
own native energy, virtue, foresight, skill; look to 
the several resources which they have devised in the 
world, trust to their friends and allies, and go down 
into Egypt for help. 

They profess to be waiting for providential direc- 
tion in their paths, disclaim all pretension to an 
ability whereby they can decide for themselves, ask 
counsel both of Grod and of His people, and wear 
the semblance of simplicity; whereas already they 
have arranged their own plans, determined upon the 
steps they mean to take, and ask direction only in 
the hope that the result will tend to confirm their 
determination, and aiFord them greater liberty in 
pursuing the dictates of their own hearts. 

In deliverances they talk much of the divine faith- 
fulness, appear to be intent upon proclaiming the 
truth of God, and extol His interposing mercy, at 
the same time that they are manifestly thinking 
with great complacency upon the success which has 
attended their well-concerted measures, and inter- 
mix their praises of Grod with certain observations 
respecting their own proceedings, clearly demon- 
strating that their chief sacrifice of praise is proffered 
to themselves. 



THE DIVIDING OF THE HEART. 47 

These are very common instances of the perilous 
condition we are now investigating, and come into 
the number of cases wherein a divided heart is preva- 
lent. 

The visible demonstration of this state is very 
affecting to such as understand spiritual subjects, 
and know the value of an immortal soul. Alas ! the 
course of such persons is full of the most disgraceful 
and condemning instability, being governed accord- 
ing to the particular interest which prevails at the 
time of action, and perpetually fluctuating and vari- 
able. Thus we see them exhibiting alternately the 
spirit of vanity or reflection, of levity or sedateness; 
sometimes fall of spiritual subjects of converse; at 
others, with equal avidity, discussing the topics of 
the world. Sometimes we behold them in the sanc- 
tuary, praying, hearing, raising the hymn, and appar- 
ently filled with sacred excitement. Again we see 
them in their former haunts of pleasure, sitting in the 
assembly of sinners, loud in their gaiety, and in 
some melancholy instances even laughing at the 
seriousness which a little before pervaded their 
breast. In experience they are of course equally 
unstable; sometimes joyous, at others miserable; 
awhile full of hope, again sunk in despondency, just 
as the^^ of. feeling prevails. 

This is a lamentable and miserable condition of 
soul. In respect of this world, it is folly and woe. 



48 PROGKESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

for such persons never have peace or happiness with 
either master. The service of each is attended with 
alloys, and the sense of dissatisfaction. There is no 
honor before either. Even the world will despise 
such a servant, and, whilst wearing the smile of 
courtesy in the presence of the sinner, ridicules and 
speaks evil of him in his absence. This insincerity 
and inconsistency are apparent, and become topics of 
conversation, and the worldling disdains him as a 
hypocrite. Before Christ he appears in a character 
utterly degraded and contemned. His subterfuges 
are all read by His omniscient eye, and his false 
reasonings are all exposed in their very spring. His 
services are rejected, and he is placed under the sen- 
tence of condemnation; for Christ has declared, "He 
that is not with me, is against me." Thus the wretched 
soul, after all its vain devices, and temporary resolu- 
tions, and occasional sacrifices, is destitute of salvation ; 
for it is not converted^ and, except we be converted we 
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. This indecision 
could not remain if the will had accepted the appeal 
which convicted faculties presented before it. What- 
ever may be the flattering appearance which we as- 
sume to ourselves, the truth is, that the citadel is as 
firmly the property of Satan as if we had never ex- 
perienced any emotion upon the subject of religion. 
And we are still with affections that are estranged 
from God, with love of self in unsanctified supremacy 



THE DIVIDING OF THE HEART. 49 

within, and with all our native distaste to Christ and 
His cross. 

The evil of such a state should be understood: it 
is so in respect of our own most sacred interests, 
and as it is opposed to the will of God. If we are 
living under its influence, we should be induced to 
examine its source and its issue. It proceeds from 
the vilest condition of apostasy from all that is good, 
and it will conduct into irremediable ruin when our 
transitory life is closed. Surely therefore, we should 
be sensible of our own duty as rational creatures, 
and under a just sense of our danger be willing to 
ask for the operations of the Holy Ghost in His sav- 
ing grace. He it is who brings the sinner into 
liberty, He it is who has the power to establish the 
soul in its deliverance from sin. To Him our cry 
should ascend, that He would vouchsafe to save us 
from the wavering of an unsettled mind, and from 
the delusions of a divided heart. Whilst to such as 
have already received this deciding grace from above, 
the thought of man's native disinclination to the cross, 
and the retrospect of past indecision which probably 
now returns upon the eye, should awaken the propor- 
tion of praise which the Lord demands; so likewise 
should we each be vigilant, ever watching against 
the native propensity of the heart to start aside, and 
striving to maintain an unquestionable evidence of an 

entire surrender of body, soul, and spirit to the Lord. 
4* 



50 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE HEART'S DECISIO:^'. 

" For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good 
thing ; for to will is present with me ; but how to perform that 
which is good, I find not." — Eomans vii, 18. 

"We have now to enter into a view of the heart of 
man which is calculated to awaken more pleasurable 
feeling than our late investigation has afforded, if 
only we are privileged by the blessed witness of the 
Spirit to discover that our own affections are in this 
view placed before us. We pass from the wretched 
object of a divided heart, and turn to what in some 
blessed instances succeeds, fixed principle, or upright 
determination on the Lord's side. "We must how- 
ever connect the whole, as belonging to different 
stages of experience in a sinner's state, and remember 
how we last considered the forcible appeal made by 
judgment, conscience, and feeling, to the faculty of 
the will; and also the subtlety in which corrupt affec- 
tions continue to keep this faculty in bondage, put- 
ting it upon deceitful devices, to satisfy the infatuated 
soul with something short of the saving profession 
of Christ : and now consider the effectual address by 
which the will is made a captive to the voice of truth. 

In the first place we must determine what the will 



THE heart's decision. 51 

is, endeavoring to understand its true nature and 
use; for on this just views in religion much depend. 

The will is a faculty of the soul of man belonging 
to his original constitution as Grod's creature, and 
bestowed upon him in order to empower him to 
choose or reject, and so to act in all things as a free 
agent. This necessarily belongs to a just idea of a 
rational being. Man is not as the brutes, without 
intelligence, or as a stone or clod of the earth, with- 
out power of action, but can deliberate, judge, 
determine for himself. !N'either can we have just 
views of the divine requirement but as we take into 
consideration this faculty of man, for God does not 
call for an irrational, forced, or reluctant obedience, 
but for rational, voluntary, and cheerful compliance 
with His voice. 

We must consequently always consider man's will 
to be /ree, that is, that it does not act from any vio- 
lence laid upon it so as to drag it into what it disap- 
proves; otherwise it ceases to be his loill; for a man 
that is constrained to do any act against his own 
inclination can never be said to do it with his loill. 

During man's state of innocency, when his affec- 
tions were the Lord's, of course the will was holy, 
and in perfect agreement with God's mind: it was 
directed by holy desires, and would determine on 
the side of good, freely serving a heavenly Father. 

Since man's state of apostasy the will is corrupt. 



52 PEOGRESSIVB EXPERIENCE. 

and in allegiance with Satan; it is directed by de- 
praved affections, and determines on the side of evil^ 
freely serving the powers of darkness and death. 

The nature of this faculty is not changed ; this is 
impossible; wherefore, whatever a man freely does, 
he does with his will, whether serving Christ, or 
corruption. As the Apostle clearly argues, " Know 
ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to 
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether 
of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteous- 
ness?" Eom. vi, 16. 

When man is the subject of grace and created 
anew, the will is not changed as to its free character. 
The Lord does not force his people as slaves, but 
sweetly constrains them by love ; so that this faculty 
is brought under the direction of new affections; 
and the creature is thus restored to its rightful alle- 
giance, loving what is good and determining in its 
favor. 

According to this explanation of the will, it is to 
be observed how this faculty is always addressed, 
whether the sinner be solicited by temptation to sin, 
or urged by Gospel overtures to obedience. Thus 
Joshua exhorted the people on the ground of their 
responsibility as rational creatures having a will, 
" Choose you this day whom ye will serve," Josh, xxiv, 
15. So again the prophet, "If ye be willing and 
obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if 



THE heart's decision. 53 

ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured," Isaiah i, 
19, 20. And our Lord represents Himself as standing 
at the door, that if any man be found willing to open 
the door he may enter in. Rev. iii, 20. And when 
testifying of the Gospel of salvation to sinners, causing 
it to be proclaimed from age to age. "Whosoever 
will, let him take the water of life freely," Kev. 
xxii, 17. 

This mode of address corresponds with the char- 
acter of man as an intelligent being; and it reminds 
us of this fact, that whatever may be the degree ot 
excitement prevailing upon the other faculties of his 
soul, nothing is really obtained in favor of the faith 
until this determining power is gained; for it is the 
stronghold and main seat of government, whether 
of Satan or of Christ. And by consulting the Scrip- 
tures we shall be further convinced, that as it re- 
spects the sinner's rejection of the Gospel, or his 
continuance in sin, the defect lies in this faculty. 
Thus it is declared by our Lord, "Ye will not come 
to me, that ye might have life." A truth which, 
no doubt. He intended to convey in respect of spiritual 
interests, when He so remarkably addressed the im- 
potent man, saying, " Wilt thou be made whole?" 
John V, 6. There could be no doubt of his readiness 
to receive the bodily cure, but Jesus designed some- 
thing more than this; and probably the man after- 
ward understood the force of this inquiry. In a 



54 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

similar strain the Holy Spirit addresses Israel, " Wilt 
thou not be made clean?" Jer. xiii, 27. " Wilt 
thou not from this time cry unto me?" Jer. iii, 4. 

Addresses of this description, however, whilst they 
suit the condition of man as a responsible creature, 
serve to demonstrate the extent of that creature's 
fall, in every instance being accompanied by results 
which develop man's obstinate preference of evil 
and his determined league with hell. And herein 
we have a display of divine wisdom which demands 
our attention. Yain man is intent upon justifying 
himself even in the course of rebellion which he pur- 
sues. And although he will in some instances admit 
that his paths are destruction to himself, he will 
pretend that a kind of necessity is laid upon him to 
remain in his course of ruin. He argues that he is 
willing to be a better creature, but that he has no 
power : he takes up the doctrine of grace as an ex- 
cuse for his transgression, and replies to the remon- 
strances which meet him in the way^ " 0, I am not 
an elect one, and therefore it is unnecessary for me to 
trouble myself, by vain endeavors, to be better in my 
state." 

And how does he know that he is not an elect 
one ? Has he pried into Grod's secret counsels ? has 
he read the book of life, and seen what names are 
written there? How does he know that his own 
does not stand deeply engraven upon Jesus' breast? 



THE HEART S DECISION. 55 

True and glorious as are the doctrines by which. 
Jehovah has secured the glory of Christ in a people 
that shall be the reward of the travail of His soul, yet 
He has not divulged the secret of who are among 
these, save as they are continually brought out from 
a state of death, and united to the living Head by 
faith. His overtures are in general terms, leaving 
man with the weight of his own condemnation on 
his own head, and proving beyond controversy that 
the sinner's pretence of willingness is insincere, for 
he has everything to encourage him to make an 
appeal, if indeed he were willing; and unquestion- 
ably he would .make the appeal, were he willing to 
experience the blessedness of serving the Lord. 
Addresses made to man's will are therefore excel- 
lent methods whereby to detect man's apostasy, and 
his deliberate preference of his native estrangement 
from the Lord. On this ground Jehovah shows that 
He will judge and righteously condemn the sinner. 
<' When I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye 
did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did 
choose thsit wherein I delighted not." Isaiah Ixv, 12; 
Prov. i, 23-26. 

There is also another advantage obtained by this 
mode of address. We are not only insincere, and so 
capable of arguing as we have stated, but we are 
self-confident and presumptuous, so that in many 
instances men will reason in a completely different 



56 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

strain from that of the persons we have .described. 
They will argue that whenever they please they can 
turn to the Lord, for that, the faculty of their will 
being free, they have an open way to escape from 
destruction, even although they postpone the care of 
their souls unto the very last mortal hour. Thus 
they mistake and pervert the doctrine of the freeness 
of the will, and conclude that it means the same 
thing as a power to choose what is good. Alas ! this 
demonstrates ignorance of the bondage in which the 
affections are by nature, which, always adhering to the 
delights or interests of earth, never impel the will to 
what is heavenly or spiritually excellent. This evil 
is discovered by the means of general invitations or 
addresses made to this faculty, whereby it is found 
that even in the last hour of life, and amidst all the 
awful considerations brought home by the judgment, 
conscience, and feelings of the sinner, there is still 
an impotency in the will respecting things that are 
holy: so that, ere it can freely determine for God, it 
must receive a divine impulse through the medium 
of sanctified affections. In this way Jehovah pre- 
pares us for an experimental sense of his own sove- 
reignty, and of the convinced sinner's helplessness 
and extent of ruin, so that the doctrines of grace 
shall be received gratefully, and with deep humility 
of heart. And thus the truth is established, that in 
every instance wherein this faculty of the will is won 



THE heart's decision. 57 

for the Lord, it must be owing to an invincible ope- 
ration from God Himself. As it is expressly affirmed, 
"Thy people shall be Avilling in the day of thy 
power," Ps. ex, 3; and, "It is God that worketh in 
you both to will and to do." Phil, ii, 13. 

It will not offend a soul that has been conducted 
thus far in the knowledge of his own heart, when he 
is further informed, that in all instances wherein 
this operation is effective, it is according to the 
sovereignty of God's own determination and pur- 
pose. " I will have mercy on whom I will have 
mercy." Rom. ix, 15. Herein he aboundeth in 
wisdom and power for the security of Christ's glory. 
Were the work of Jesus left dependent upon the 
natural will of sinners for its success, it must prove 
uncrowned with any single instance of a soul saved 
from destruction; for sinners dead in their sins, and 
loving their sins, will not come unto the Lord. And 
even according to the argument of those who ascribe 
glory to man, and represent him able to turn himself 
to God, it must appear evident that Christ's glory is 
left at great hazard, and with very uncertain results 
to his blessed undertaking. This is not the divine 
method. Jehovah leaves not His plans and purposes 
in this undigested, unformed condition, but deter- 
mines upon effects produced by His divine arrange- 
ment, according to an equitable rule, and for the de- 
5 



58 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

termination also of Christ's mediatorial glory. Isa. 
liii, 12. 

It is in consequence of this purpose, that the Holy 
Ghost in His covenant office operates in an invinci- 
ble work of grace in the vessels of mercy, and ad- 
vancing from those influences which we considered 
in our late subjects, renders the conviction which He 
has effected a step toward conversion, causing the 
indecision of a divided heart to be followed by the 
determination of surrendered affections. This He 
does by begetting a restlessness of soul during the 
state of indecision, which becomes intolerable. The 
apprehensions which have filled his mind and judg- 
ment are deepened, and become more substantial 
and abiding: he is filled with alarm for his own per- 
sonal safety: the yearnings of his excited feelings 
become more tender and upright: he contemplates 
the manifestation of the Lord with a degree of earnest 
desire to become reconciled, and at peace with Him ; 
whilst at the same time deep self-reproach seizes 
upon his spirit, when he reflects upon his long delay, 
his insincerity, his base ingratitude to a long-suffer- 
ing God, and his debased condition whilst preferring 
the gratifications of sense to those of faith. These 
are mighty remonstrances from the Holy Ghost, and 
forcible approaches to the will I 

By all these operations, He may be described as 
knocking at the door, in order to obtain an entrance 



THE heart's decision. 59 

for Christ, of whom He is now about effectually to tes- 
tify, and by the persisting of His own covenant grace 
He will prevail ; for when this work is undertaken 
by Him, He will accomplish that which He pleases. 
In consequence, the will is in God's due time ob- 
tained ; the soul having experienced what is requisite 
in this stage, in order to keep it in a state of humilia- 
tion and dependence, the Holy Ghost insinuates His 
own persuasive power through the faculty, and it 
surrenders itself. Addresses from judgment, con- 
science, and feeling, are now uprightly heard and 
accepted, and a holy resolution follows, not any 
longer, as having a heart divided, to tamper with the 
world, but entirely to renounce its destroying inter- 
ests and pursuits. There is now no more a icill for 
its pleasures, its smiles, its gains, its ease. These are 
become distasteful, and are spiritually disesteemed; 
so that he exclaims with the apostle, " The world is 
crucified unto me, and I unto the world!" Gal. vi, 14. 

The divine testimony of salvation in Christ is now 
appreciated, and its sublime truth is attractive and 
loved. The soul sighs after all it can convey of 
spiritual riches and joy, and with a single eye stands 
now in fixed gaze and fervent devotion at the cross. 
The will is now intent upon taking Christ for all, 
and would renounce every other refuge or rest. Gal. 
vi. 14. Matt, vi, 22. 

The justice of God's demand upon the heart is 



60 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

now fully admitted, and a will is felt toward 
unconditional compliance. Personal consecration 
of body, soul, and spirit, is considered a distinction, 
universal obedience a ^privilege, the crucifixion of sin 
a deliverance, and tbe divine revelation whicb urges 
to these high services is embraced with a willing 
mind. Rom. xii, 1; viii, 18. 

Thus the heart is now proffered as an offering 
before the Lord. In it there is no anxiety equal to 
that of being accepted, and of finding the bosom 
replenished out of Jesus' fullness. And in this 
attitude the surrendered soul stands before the 
mercy-seat, waiting the further revelation of peace. 

This is the first evidence of a saving work in the 
soul. All preceding experiences belong in common 
to those who perish, and to those who live. But 
w^hen the will is thus obtained, the Spirit's grace 
assumes a more decisive form, and we begin to see 
the work which peculiarly distinguishes the redeemed 
of the Lord. We have therefore here brought our 
investigation of the operations which pass in man's 
heart, to an interesting point, and may pause upon 
what is thus laid open for our contemplation, since 
in these subjects our great interest should be to 
determine our own steps by the Scripture rule, and 
to seek knowledge respecting the stage to which we 
may have advanced, in order to apply excitement or 
consolation as our case requires. 



THE heart's decision. 61 

We should, in the first place, labor to obtain 
thorough conviction of the agreement of this testi- 
mony with the evidence which we have individually 
given of its truth, since it is undeniable that our 
will has demonstrated this apostasy and obstinacy: 
and unless we are experimentally convinced of this, 
there is no doubt that we are yet in our native dark- 
ness and insensibility. A retrospect of the past will 
convince every man, who has attended to the work- 
ings of his own mind, that he has in innumerable 
instances given evidence of deliberate unwillingness 
to be saved, having resisted the various methods 
which have been applied to us as rational creatures, 
and being guilty, under a variety of modes and 
forms, of putting away from us the plain and direct 
testimony which, as rational creatures, we ought to 
have received. And were the Lord to enter into 
judgment with us at this moment on this ground of 
our responsibility alone, we should each stand con- 
demned; for we have demonstrated that we have had 
no will to the cross. It is necessary to know this, 
and to be humbled by the conviction. 

In the next place, we find an interesting inquiry 
before us when we ask, whether our naturally apos- 
tate will has been brought back to its true allegiance ? 
Whether the many convictions, which possibly have 
agitated our breast, have ended in the experience of 
holy liberty in the service of Christ ? If this be not 
5* 



62 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

our case, let us beware of increasing our condemna- 
tion by presumptuously casting the blame on the 
Lord: rather let us learn to level all our charges 
against our alienated will, and here bring home 
every accusation which such deliberate sin should 
receive. Or, if indeed we have the blessed posses- 
sion of a faculty sweetly and divinely swayed by 
the power of the Holy Ghost, in affections which He 
has sanctified, let us acknowledge the blessing as a 
gift^ let us love the Giver ; and by the past experience 
we have had of native aversion to the Lord, wonder 
and adore, when we discover this supernatural ad- 
herence to Him of which our hearts are now con- 
scious. 

The Christian will find a very interesting and im- 
portant engagement connected with his sense of 
liberty in the obedience of faith. He will feel the 
necessity of keeping a vigilant eye upon the internal 
movements of his heart, with an upright desire 
always to maintain the evidence of a will that is true 
to God, clear and unclouded before Him. For this 
end we require perpetual supplies from the Holy 
Ghost, and should examine all our sacrifices and 
services, lest on any occasion they degenerate from 
their high standard, and become mere works of 
form, or constraint, or necessity. The importance 
of this disposition is set forth by the apostle, express- 
ive of his own experience in this respect, "• If I do 



THE heart's decision. 63 

this thing willingly^, I have a reward, but if against my 
will, a dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto 
me," 1 Cor. ix, 17. He was anxious to demonstrate 
that he did not serve merely in a customary ob- 
servance of a particular calling, but in freedom, in 
liberty, and according to the willing disposition in 
which God delights. Lev. i, 3, 4. 

Here also a caution may be suggested, for the 
direction and comfort of humble souls. We must 
not confound that stage of experience that has been 
described here, with a state which belongs to an 
advanced degree of the Spirit's operation. It is very 
possible that we may have a will to perform, before 
we have a decided evidence of power, as the ensuing 
subject will demonstrate. And we may possibly 
have many inward victories consequent upon this 
will, even before they become visible to us. Our 
part, therefore, should be, having ascertained that to 
will is present with us, gratefally to use this measure 
of experience, depending upon the Lord for increase ; 
and remembering how graciously He has caused it 
to be written, " If there be first a willing mind, it is 
accepted according to that a man hath, and not 
according to that he hath not," 2 Cor. viii, 12. 
This Scripture, which applies to the use of our 
worldly substance for His glory, will be found ot 
equal application to the things which are spiritual. 



64 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE HEART'S CON^FLICTIlSrG STATE 
UISTDER A SENSE OF IMPOTEInTCY. 

" For the good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would 
not, that I do." — Komans vii, 19. 

In our present inquiry it will be our object to as- 
certain what may be the nature of that experience 
through which the soul passes when, according to 
what was last shown, the blessed operation of the 
Holy Grhost is so far possessed as to enable the heart 
to exclaim in sincerity, " To will is present with me !" 
An advance of experience is of course to be expected, 
but it is not always the privilege of the soul to be 
able rightly to interpret the exercises which accom- 
pany such a progress. It may therefore be profitable 
to the mind, in many respects, that we should investi- 
gate this subject. 

It is not enough for the upright mind to feel that 
a blessed change has been produced in the tendency 
of the will. Grreat as this privilege is, the restless 
heart longs for more, and unfeignedly sighs after a 
power to accomplish what is now decidedly loved. 
It would embrace the whole commandment with 
practical energy; and, whilst contemplating the 
revelation with holy approbation, would exhibit its 



THE heart's conflicting STATE. 65 

excellency in living demonstration. The language 
of such an one agrees with that of the Psalmist, " 
that mj ways were directed to keep thy statutes," 
Psalm cxix, 5. 

In consequence of this restless excitement, the 
endeavor is put forth toward triumphing over those 
evils which the will has renounced, and attaining to 
those excellencies which it approves, " I made haste, 
and delayed not, to keep thy commandments." Psalm 
cxix, 60. 

One of the first objects attempted is the visible 
separation from the world which the Gospel pre- 
scribes, with the fervent desire that the change may 
not only be experienced within, but known by all 
men. In order to this, new society is sought after, 
and the believer longs to be admitted into the num- 
ber of those who are really the saints of the Lord, 
and among whom he may be known to have an 
abiding fellowship. He endeavors to demonstrate 
this, by his courteous overtures to the people of God, 
by seeking to obtain introduction to their society, 
and by a regular adherence to all those places where 
these assemble together; he desires to be considered 
a brother, and one of their own company. Acts iv, 
23; ix, 26. This purpose of heart he seeks to inti- 
mate among his nearer connections of family or 
friends, venturing upon religious observations, seek- 
ing to turn conversation upon subjects that may 



66 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

edify, and if lie is in circumstances which, give him 
opportunity or authority, proposing and establishing 
family worship. He declines the invitations which 
the world presents, not now, as formerly, under a 
cloak and with lying subterfuges, but openly testify- 
ing that he considers it necessary to renounce the 
pursuit of carnal pleasures, and preferable to conse- 
crate his time to higher and abiding delights. He 
wishes it to be understood that he is not the same 
man he once was, and supplicates God thus to glorify 
Himself in showing forth this wonderfal change. 
Gal. i, 15, 16, 23, 24. 

The inward region of his heart is now also under 
a close inspection and an upright scrutiny: he re- 
solves upon the severest discipline, and that no rival 
of his God shall remain within his breast. His 
honest intention is to mortify all his corrupt affec- 
tions, and to crucify the iiesh. l^or does he shrink 
from the design when interests that are nearest his 
heart stand before his recollection ; on the contrary, 
a holy ambition glows in his bosom whilst he con- 
templates these occasions of trial, and he is ready to 
press toward the mark and say, I will not offer 
unto the Lord of that which doth cost me nothing, 
2 Sam. xxiv, 24. He has no wish to conceal any 
secret of his breast, no intention to withhold any 
possession that he has, nothing is more deprecated 
by him than the idea of doing the Lord's work 



THE heart's conflicting STATE. 67 

superficially, and thus animated by the spirit of 
integrity, he sets forth in prosecution of his devoted 
purpose to bring his all unto the Lord. 

In unison with this affection, he resolves upon 
living, to the utmost of his power, a visible and 
open pleader for truth, and, as far as ability may be 
afforded, to contend earnestly for the faith once de- 
livered to the saints. He emulates the zeal of others 
who have stood forward for their God, and longs to 
be enrolled in the number of bold and resolute advo- 
cates for the cause of Christ. This he resolves upon 
attempting in simplicity, with impartiality, and with 
courage, that so his witness may be added to that of 
the Lord's anointed ones in the service of holiness, 
and for the salvation of men. 

This is the disposition of an upright will that 
has been brought under holy government; it binds 
the whole man willingly and cheerfally to the obli- 
gation of universal obedience, and of open disciple- 
ship. 

These efforts of integrity serve, however, to pro- 
duce a very different experience to that which the 
soul anticipated. Usually the inexperienced believer 
expects that he has only to will a thing, and it is 
done; and he puts forth his purpose with an assur- 
ance of immediate gratification to his best desires, 
whereas, to his surprise and mortification, he finds a 
development of trial awaiting him, rather than of 



68 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

victory, and has painfully to learn tliat he requires 
an operation of which he was not aware in order to 
be able to will and to do. The knowledge he has 
hitherto attained of the subjects of Revelation, as it 
respects the evil and strength of indwelling sin, has 
been more by intellectual than by experimental light. 
He has indeed seen it to be truly the abominable 
thing which Grod righteously abhorreth, he also has 
learned unfeignedly to abhor it as evil ; but he has 
not discovered its deep malignity, as the obstinate 
and mysteriously determined foe to the new life that 
is in him. This he has to learn, through his upright 
abhorrence of it, and hy encountering it in the resolu- 
tion of faith; it is then that the strength of the foe is 
felt and owned. Thus, when beginning to open the 
war and to resist the world, it is found not quite so 
easy to overcome this formidable adversary as it ap- 
peared ere it was encountered; and although the 
will to separate from it is strong and faithful, old 
habits are found very obstinate, and hard to be over- 
come; they encumber and entangle those who have 
been long in the custom of mixing with the world, 
so that the soul is continually coming short of its 
own resolutions. IS'atural affections also raise up 
powerful obstacles: the fear of giving pain, the 
dread of seeming to be ungrateful, the horror of 
wearing an appearance of presumption, or of induc- 
ing family discord and inconvenience, all subtilely 



THE heart's conflicting STATE. 69 

reason against the practical decision which is de- 
signed; and although these are adversaries which 
are not obeyed by the upright will, they produce a 
painful conflict and many difficulties. When putting 
forth the hand to crucify the flesh and tear down the 
idols of the heart, and cleanse out the filthy chamber 
where so many abominations have been harbored, 
he finds the traitors in arms, and ready to rebel, 
obstinately disputing the right to the throne; and 
that efibrts to sweep the heart do but stir up evils 
that were undiscovered until now. " The flesh 
lusteth against the spirit;" when he would do good, 
evil is present with him. Instead of improvement 
he seems to grow worse, and his best resolutions 
appear to be abortive and vain. "When urging upon 
himself the act of openly warring with Satan as a 
witness for truth, he is dismayed and awe-struck by 
finding an unaccountable remissness. Sinners are 
left unreproved, he hears the evil and strangely 
passes by the occasion in which it might have been 
exposed. In the domestic circle, instead of advanc- 
ing truth in the way he had arranged, his own speech 
seems paralyzed; or if he speaks, it is done with 
constraint, with rashness, with a spirit of impatience 
and irritation, very unlike what he had imagined he 
should evince. Thus, instead of gratification, he is 
filled with shame; he returns to his closet full of 
self-disgust and confusion: he prostrates himself 
6 



70 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

before God in utter distress of mind, and exclaims 
in the bitterness of his spirit, " wretched man that 
I am, who shall deliver me !" 

The distress of this stage of experience is greatly 
increased by the malignity of Satan and the world. 
These enemies fail not to take advantage of these 
circumstances. Satan will suggest that the things 
which have been received as true cannot in fact be 
so ; that the divine promises are not fulfilled, and not 
to be relied upon; or possibly that Scriptures have 
been misinterpreted and misapplied ; or that if true 
to others, they are not so to him ; that he can have 
no part or lot in the matter, since he is thus weak,- 
overcome, and disconsolate ; that were he interested 
in the covenant, no doubt he would, like those 
Christians whose victorious course he has contem- 
plated, have his trophies of triumph to bring before 
his Saviour; that possibly he is too vile to be an 
object of divine favor, or an abode for the Spirit to 
inhabit; and that in fact he has been very presump- 
tuous in his former hopes and expectations. The 
world, too, he acknowledges may justly suspect him 
to be a hypocrite, and perhaps does so at this mo- 
ment. His family may with propriety charge him 
with inconsistency. 'No wonder they have not con- 
fided in him; they perceive no difierence in his 
spirit from theirs : why should they respect such an 
one ? it were better not to appear the disciple he 



THE heart's conflicting STATE. 71 

has professed to be, and to keep his religion, his 
hopes, and his fears to himself. These are the bitter 
things which Satan suggests, working through the 
world, and upon his own natural mind, and prompt- 
ing him to allow the power of unbelief, and to sink 
in discouragement, giving up the war. This is a 
frame of mind most miserable to the sufferer, and 
most perilous, because its tendency is to generate 
distance of conduct toward God, a restraint of prayer 
and a distrust of divine mercy. 

Let us, therefore, seek wisdom, that we may 
rightly interpret these divine methods, for they are 
divine, the result of God's tender and covenant care 
for the prosperity of the soul that He loves. There 
are many important parts of Christian experience, 
which are secured through this conflicting exercise. 

In the first place, it is necessary to possess experi- 
mental self-knowledge, to which end the condition 
we have contemplated may be considered as a mani- 
festing light. It is true, that the Holy Ghost con- 
ducts the mind into the deep caverns and recesses of 
a sinful heart, disclosing the hidden things of dark- 
ness, and causing the dreadful extent of spiritual 
ruin to be understood. In this operation he carries 
with him the spiritual law as a detector and touch- 
stone, showing by the spirituality of the requirement 
the contrariety of nature to the mind of God, and 
thus convincing of sin in a peculiar sense of the word . 



72 PROGKESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Of this St. Paul speaks, declaring, " I had not known 
sin, but by the law;" "when the commandment 
came, sin revived, and I died." And in the interest- 
ing disclosure of his painfal experience, contained 
in Rom. vii, we have a full detail of what the soul 
endures in this state of discipline, and the end for 
which it is appointed. This is necessary in every 
individual case of a converted soul, for we have 
otherwise no knowledge of sin but intellectually, and 
no knowledge of self but superficially. 

It is further necessary, for the purpose of produc- 
ing in us an entire persuasion that in us there 
dwelleth, not onl}^ '^ no good thing," but no strength 
to overcome the evil things. Until we have made 
trial of our ability, we conceive it to be great; but 
trial brings down our lofty imaginations, and leaves 
us with the conviction that we are helpless ; that it is 
not even in a will governed by renewed affections, 
and true in its allegiance to God, to accomplish any 
thing independently, but that we depend upon the 
continued operation of the Holy Ghost for His act- 
ings upon the faculties he has Himself given and 
sanctified, in order to accomplish anything effectu- 
ally, or to the glory of God. 

By this painful experience we are also greatly 
excited in our warfare: the upright will becomes 
proportionably resolute by the difiiculties it encount- 
ers : for although there are awful convulsions which 



THE heart's conflicting STATE. 73 

agitate the bosom, and many temptations to de- 
spondency presented to the mind, the Lord, the 
Spirit, preserves the work in vigor. If foes are 
formidable, the believer's energy shall rise corres- 
pondingly; he finds the necessity of fighting in 
earnest, not as one who beateth the air; he feels the 
necessity of girding on his spiritual weapons; of 
keeping under the body, of watching unto prayer, 
and of living habitually as a soldier of the cross. 
Thus his affections obtain more substantial existence 
by the means of a deep apprehension of the exposure 
of his soul. All this is learned by the conflicting 
experience described, and therefore sufficiently de- 
monstrates that it is appointed in love. 

It is of equal interest and importance to under- 
stand that there is an experimental acquaintance with 
the doctrines of grace, which is very distinct from 
the speculative, superficial, hard-hearted, and arro- 
gant disposition with which some persons discuss 
those parts of revelation; and we should perceive 
how such an experience is only attainable through 
this sense of our own misery. 

As we learn the nature of original sin, with its 
accompanying power and results, through this dis- 
pensation of conflict, so we learn the glorious plan of 
salvation from sin in the best way, when it is given 
through the same medium. Hence it is that we 
learn the necessity for the doctrine of election if ever 
6* 



74 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

we have hope. Others maj dispute about it in a 
variety of human modes, but we, if experimentally 
sure of our own death in trespasses and sins, must be 
equally sure that if we live it is by a sovereign invin- 
cible act on God's part, freely proceeding from Him- 
self. We, therefore, hang to the doctrine as our 
dearest ground of comfort, as it is our only ground 
of hope; and when we listen to the voice of Scrip- 
ture proclaiming the existence of such a purpose in 
behalf of wretched souls, our fervent desire is to lay 
hold upon it, as affording encouragement to us which 
no other consideration could present. Thus we 
reason. If salvation be an act so free, so full, ex- 
tended to the dead, to the vile, then I, who am the 
chief of sinners, may have hope, for God's eternal 
purpose may be magnified in me. 1 Pet. i, 2 ; 1 
Cor. vi, 11. It is thus likewise that we obtain a 
power to propose the doctrine of election to others 
in a way that corresponds with the Lord's own 
method. "We can do it confidently, because it has 
been displayed in ourselves. We can do it charitably, 
on the same ground. It furnishes us with hopes 
toward the most wretched, and with motives for 
perseverance in seeking the wanderer's soul, know- 
ing that this way of salvation renders man in any 
state an object that may yet be gathered in by God's 
invincible power. 

The atonement is also most appreciated when its 



THE heart's conflicting STATE. 75 

value is learned through painful mortifying expe- 
rience. Precious indeed is that blood of Jesus which 
we believe is able to save such filthy, guilty sinners 
as we now find ourselves to be ! Blessed is the 
revelation of such a fountain opened for sin and un- 
cleanness, wherein the defilements which are daily 
contracted may all be washed away ! And whilst 
combining the sense of sin with faith in this provi- 
sion, the cry is emphatically uttered, wash me, and 
I shall be clean. Psalm li, 7. 

IN'or less important is the saving estimation of 
Christ's justifying righteousness which is obtained 
through the knowledge of our painful shortcomings. 
l^ever do we powerfully apprehend this glorious 
provision until we are made conscious of the imper- 
fections attending our best works : but when in the 
midst of every upright, fervent pursuit of the divine 
life, we are convinced that we fail in the measure 
which God's righteous law demands, then it is that 
we hail the infinitely perfect merit in which the law 
is magnified and we are secured. 

How otherwise than by the experience of our weak- 
ness could we be brought habitually to rest upon the 
strength of the Lord ? How vain are all the theo- 
retic views we obtain of human impotency ! how 
inefficacious the mere convictions of sin to produce 
in us simple affiance in the Holy Ghost ! Until we 
are sensible of our helplessness, through the know- 



76 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

ledge of our insufB.ciency, to contend against the 
smallest sin in our own power, we will not truly 
accept tlie covenant proffer of sufficiency in the 
Holy Grhost. But when we have been made to 
groan under the weight of corruption, to lament 
over the wounds and bruises which have attended 
our independence, and to see how we fall when we 
attempt to walk alone, we then gratefully accept the 
arm of our Beloved, gladly receive the privilege of 
becoming strong in the Holy Ghost, and learn to 
count this part of the covenant design inestimably 
precious. 

If such be the advantages derived from the pain- 
ful sense of personal misery, surely we shall admit 
that this dispensation is in love. Let us therefore 
endeavor to overcome the dejection which assails us 
on these occasions, and never be discouraged by the 
strength of our foes. " Greater is He that is in you 
than he that is in the world." If we wait upon the 
Lord, we shall renew our strength, and in due time 
we shall mount up as with the wings of an eagle. 
Isa. xl, 31. Our God will ere long put a new song 
into our mouths, and teach us to exclaim with other 
saints, " Blessed be the Lord my strength, which 
teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight." 
Psalm cxliv, 1. There is no evil so much to be 
dreaded by the Christian as distrust of the issue of the 
conflict. Such fears are generated by unbelief and 



THE heart's conflicting STATE. 77 

always weaken our hands. They are likewise very 
frequently consequent upon some lurking temptation 
to insincerity in the warfare. So long as we will rely 
upon the promise of Grod, we have every considera- 
tion which may stimulate us to cheerfulness and ex- 
pectation : for although the Lord bear long with His 
people's cries, He will avenge them, and that speedily. 
Luke xviii, 8. ^N'either is there any heart too vile 
for Him whose work is grace : nor any sin too strong 
for Him whose power is infinite. Let us therefore, 
when distressed by these exercises, run unto the 
ISTame of the Lord, for He is a strong tower; and 
patiently wait until He is pleased to sanctify the dis- 
cipline to our advance in consolation and the joy of 
faith. Gal. v, 16; vi, 9; Heb. vii, 25. 



78 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE HEART'S COJ^TEITIOK. 

" Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities." — 

Psalm li, 9. 

In our last view of the soul, as brought under the 
Spirit's gracious operations, we beheld the believer 
in very interesting and affecting circumstances. 
Having received the divine unction upon the faculty 
of his will, and in this grace made uprightly desirous 
to embrace the service of the cross; and having, as 
the result of this determination, resolutely entered 
the scene of conflict, where we saw him encountering 
his spiritual adversaries in the midst of painful ex- 
perience: now for the first time made sensible of 
the strength of his foes, and mortified to discern 
the weakness of his own powers, the bitter cry of 
" wretched man that I am," bursting from his lips, 
and desolation of heart attending his anxious steps. 

We must now inquire into the result of this mor- 
tification: which I conceive to be an advanced ex- 
perience of a state of deep contrition and brokenness 
of heart. To some persons who view the subject of 
Christian exercise superficially, it may possibly ap- 
pear unnecessary to consider a state of contrition 
separately from that which we have already traced. 



THE heart's contrition. 79 

They may be disposed to ask, what more is neces- 
sary, in order to constitute a man a real penitent 
and broken-hearted, than that he should be convicted, 
willing, and abased ? To the reflective mind, how- 
ever, it will appear that there is something very 
essential to a truly penitential frame of soul, which 
has not yet been before us. We have seen how it is 
possible for a man to be convicted without being will- 
ing, and willing without being humbled by discoveries 
of his own impotency. And it is equally true that 
he may be humbled and abased in the knowledge of 
self, without being really prostrated before God, in 
what the divine standard will acknowledge as contri- 
tion. Many there are who, under the unfeigned per- 
suasion of their own misery, will utter bitter cries 
and lamentations, who nevertheless are in no degree 
self -emptied : and without some degree of this disposi- 
tion, there is not any genuine brokenness of heart. 

This consideration renders it very important that 
we understand the grace of penitence in a Scriptural 
light. There is much more belonging to this dispo- 
sition as a grace of the Spirit than is usually admitted. 
And error in these subjects is productive of the most 
wretched consequences to thousands of souls. 

It is true that by repentance, as generally under- 
stood, we mean a certain change of mind, or opinion 
or judgment, and in some cases an attendant change 
of conduct. Men, in interests of a temporal nature, 



80 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

may frequently be troubled by a sense of having 
committed an error of judgment, or they may be 
under the influence of different affections respecting 
the subject against, or in favor of which, they then 
decided, or they may be suffering present inconve- 
nience from having decided without caution or pru- 
dence; the sense of this is distressing, and were it 
in their power they would undo the past. But this 
is a distress which is in action only in reference to 
some particular point, not in connection with a general 
view of incompetency to judge or act, and may exist 
in the midst of encompassing pride and high self- 
estimation. We cannot call this a penitent state, or 
a state of contrition. 

Exactly in the same degree a disposition of re- 
pentance may be felt upon religious subjects by 
persons who have never had their hearts broken 
before God; as was shown in considering the nature 
of conviction, A very instructive example of this 
description is left upon record in the Scriptures. 
The history of Esau will furnish us with this in a 
form which demands our particular attention. He 
was a carnal man, that is, one who was under the 
dominion of his own corrupt and sensual inclinations. 
His judgment was in accordance with the corruption 
of his affections; and when he reasoned upon the 
value of the birthright, which was annexed to him 
as the first-born of Isaac, he utterly condemned it. 



THE heart's contrition. 81 

He supposed it to consist only of spiritual and dis- 
tant distinctions, which he had no heart to appreci- 
ate; as we discover in his own words, " What profit 
shall this birthright do to me ?" And when a suitable 
temptation presented itself, he readily sold it for a 
mess of pottage. Yet afterward he regretted this act, 
because he perceived that the birthright embraced 
certain temporal dignities and possessions, which he 
had appetites to esteem; and when these were de- 
cidedly made over to Jacob by the blessing of his 
father, he lifted up his voice and wept. His cries, 
however, availed not: "he found no place of re- 
pentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." 
The blessing was irreversibly pronounced by Isaac, 
I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed. 
Gen. xxvii, 33. It was a change of this mind, or 
repentance on the part of Isaac, which Esau so earn- 
estly desired, but which found no place in the mind 
of the patriarch. Heb. xii^ 17. This is an example 
which exactly answers to the end we are here to keep 
in view, namely, that mere selfish regret for particular 
errors comes not up to the true nature of genuine 
repentance : and that unless we possess dispositions 
which answer to the standard and rule by which the 
Lord will judge, our cries and supplications will not 
avail; Jehovah will never alter His own prescribed 
mode and holy requirement. 

Let us, therefore, seek, in the first place, to under- 
7 



82 PEOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

stand the peculiarities which mark the genuine con- 
trition of a broken heart. For this end, look to the 
source whence it proceeds. It is to be considered as 
the provision in the everlasting covenant, originat- 
ing with the eternal purpose to exalt the Son of God, 
as He is appointed to be the heir of a peculiar herit- 
age from among the sons of men ordained to form 
His mediatorial crown, and be exhibited as loyal sub- 
jects of His spiritual kingdom. It is necessary that 
security should be given for the accomplishment of 
this object in the willing hearts of people that shall 
turn to Him and live. Therefore repentance forms a 
chief consideration in the divine arrangement, and is 
represented in the Scriptures not only as necessary, 
but as a gift which God will bestow. Thus the 
Apostle, when urging his son Timothy to discharge 
his duty as an evangelist, warning, rebuking, and 
inviting sinners, exhorts him to do so in faith, if 
peradventure God may be pleased to give them re- 
pentance to the acknowledging of the truth. 2 Tim. 
ii, 25. And so the prophetic voice speaks of the pur- 
pose respecting Israel, "I will pour upon the house 
of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the 
spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall 
look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they 
shall mourn." Zech. xii, 10. And in the parallel 
passage, Rev. i, 7, not only Israel as a nation is thus 
distinguished, but the kindreds of the earth, also, 



THE heart's contrition. 83 

shall in this way wail because of Him. It follows, 
from admitting the freeness of the gift as a covenant 
provision, that it flows to man through Jesus as the 
Christ, or anointed one; for covenant visitations are 
all imparted through this blessed medium : the infi- 
nitely meritorious atonement and righteousness of 
the Lord Jesus procuring for man those manifesta- 
tions of divine love which must otherwise have been 
eternally lost. Had not this propitiation been offered, 
the spirit of contrition could never have pervaded 
the hard heart of a sinner, neither would Jehovah 
have listened to the cries and wailing from the 
wretched. Thus Jesus testified to His sorrowing 
disciple, "Iflgonot away, the Comforter will not 
come." John xvi, 7, 8. To this sacred source, 
therefore, the eye of faith must be directed, teaching 
us to receive the unspeakable blessings of a softened 
heart as a free mercy from above, as coming to us in 
the blood and sweet savor of a crucified and risen 
Lord; and as the token of that triumph which He as 
a Prince and Saviour has obtained, and in which He 
is exalted to the right hand above, " for to give re- 
pentance,^'' Acts V, 31 ; Ps. Ixviii, 18. The virtue 
of this great offering has availed in all ages, and sin- 
ners have been subdued by the force of divine love 
from the first generation of men. But it has been 
the divine will to reserve a glorious period wherein 
Jesus of Nazareth should receive the indisputable 



84 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

testimony from above: and consequently, when 
promises were fulfilled, and types and shadows were 
finished by the manifestation of the substance in 
Him, the Spirit descended in richest plenitude and 
power, and the gift of repentance crowned the witness 
to our ascended Lord. 

This repentance is peculiar in its character, as it is 
the special operation of a covenant God to a people 
in whom the eternal Son shall be glorified, and at- 
tends that grace by which the Spirit deprives the 
sinner of hope in himself, that He may invest him 
with a hope in Christ, which maketh not ashamed. 
For this purpose having, as shown in the last subject, 
revealed the nature of sin, and stripped off the dis- 
position of self-importance with which man is dis- 
posed to encounter it, He proceeds to establish the 
deep-seated feeling of self-loathing. This is an effect 
following the cry of conscious wretchedness through 
the power of advancing spiritual existence. It is not- 
the natural result of mortification. Alas! even in 
God's own children there is frequently a lamentable 
absence of real humiliation, notwithstanding they 
are ready to confess their own wretchedness. In 
many instances this confession is attended with a 
spirit of sullenness or resentment, the soul being 
ready to take offence, as if the Lord were dealing un- 
justly and hardly with it, seeing that the desire for 
victory has been so honest and true. In others there 



THE heart's contrition. 85 

is a spirit of selfish regret when the disappointment 
of high expectation is endured: they intended great 
things, they meant to soar high, to leave all earthly 
things behind, to bring great glory to the Lord, and 
to achieve mighty acts; but, alas! the intention is 
thwarted, and the regret is not really the pure sorrow 
which acts only in reference to the Lord's name; it 
is the grief of not having obtained so much distinction 
as was desired, and w^hich, in such a cause, the soul 
concluded it might rightfully expect. IsTeither is it 
unfreq^uent that a corrupt mixture of despondency 
and relaxation of zeal is felt, and mortification, so far 
from producing increase of sanctity, leads to despera- 
tion or neglect. These are great evils, and cannot 
be allowed in the vessels of mercy. They also de- 
monstrate that the Holy Ghost must put forth 
farther acts of His grace toward the soul ere the 
graces of humility and contrition are secured. 

The manner in which this further step is promoted 
is very important and interesting: nor can it be better 
understood than by contemplating tlie believer in 
those exercises which such an operation will produce. 
We behold him under this grace ruminating upon 
the experience which he has passed through, and 
reasoning upon the results that ought to follow. 
Alas, he exclaims, I am indeed a hell-deserving 
sinner ! conceived in iniquity, stained by actual 
oflence, enslaved by habits of my own inducing; I 



86 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

have made efforts to escape my sins, which have re- 
turned upon my own head in confusion; I strive to 
break my bonds; alas! they are riveted and defy my 
puny efforts ; helpless, ruined, undone, I am shut up 
under a sense of condemnation ! And can I com- 
plain ! Can I accuse my Maker ? Can I plead my 
cause, wherefore it should be better with me ? Ah, 
no ! my own transgressions have taken hold upon 
me. I have been With those who have " drawn 
iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were 
with a cart rope," Isa. v, 18. Here observe how he 
justifies the Lord. Silenced and abased before the 
Judge, he puts his mouth in the dust, and answers 
Him nothing. And, although baffled, confounded, 
and distressed, he is ready unfeignedly to exclaim 
with the prophet, " I will bear the indignation of 
the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until 
He plead my cause." Micah vii. 9. 

Behold him before men. Here also his former 
efforts for victory were true and upright, and his 
anguish at disappointment is equally sincere: but 
he is now enabled to detect the lurking vanity and 
self-seeking which mingled with his professicua and 
hopes. For this he is ready to admit that he has 
been justly mortified: he sits in silent meditation 
upon his past experience, busily explores the hidden 
recesses of his heart, seeks out the leaven that he has 
reason to believe lay concealed within his apparent 



THE heart's contrition. 87 

zeal and fervency; and discovering the accursed 
thing, tie abhors and loathes himself on its account. 
Thus he writes bitter things against himself. Alas, 
vain-glorious soul, thy aim seemed high, but thy mo- 
tives were debased. Thy zeal seemed pure, but thy 
object was not so clearly so. Thy own consistency, thy 
own character, thy own name were the secret springs 
of action ; and thou wert seeking smiles from the 
professing world, and tributes from men ! Take then 
thy just desert ! Thus, self-convicted and self-loathed, 
the spirit becomes reduced, the heart is broken, holy 
silence rests upon the lip, and there is now an end 
to altercation, to self-justifying, to fretful discontent. 
All seems to be less of punishment than has been 
merited, and more of mercy than there was right to 
expect. And under accusations from men, or dis- 
trust from the Church, the soul is little inclined to 
take up its own cause, yea, rather turns self-accuser 
before God, and is humble and silent before men. 
Ps. xxxviii, 18. 

Observe him in th'e unconquerable nature of his 
holy purposes : perceiving where he failed, and why^ 
he now humbly determines to use his experience, 
and to prosecute his way in more dependence; he 
adventures forth again to the conflict, but he care- 
fully resists the temptation to self-confidence; his 
humble resolve is to undertake nothing without a 
first appeal to the mercy-seat, and to cultivate ejacu- 



88 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

latory prayer as an habitual attendant upon his way. 
Thus, undiscouraged and undismayed, he girds on 
his weapons with adhering faith in the ever- 
blessed Saviour; and whilst he has learned to re- 
nounce himself in a spirit of unfeigned contrition, 
he lays hold upon the sufficiency which is revealed 
to him in his Lord. 

These are evidently peculiar influences belonging 
to spiritual operations in the heavenly life, and can- 
not be properly ascribed to any other power but 
that of the Holy Ghost in the discharge of His 
covenant guardianship of an elect soul. It is the 
prostration of self in the dust. It is the exaltation 
of the righteousness of Jehovah in His sovereign 
power. It is the spirit of penitence mixed with 
faith, and the condition of one who is brought to 
bewail his own nothingness ; but to be content to be 
nothing, that Christ may be all. However afflictive 
some parts of this experience may be, it is not 
equally so with that described in our last subject. 
The agonizing storm, that beat so loudly and tem- 
pestuously in the moments of surprise and mortifica- 
tion, is now subsiding, and when there is less of 
self -estimation, there is more of genuine peace. It is 
not to be said that in this frame of soul we contem- 
plate extensive rest or repose, but there is a great 
preparation for it; and comparatively, there is a pos- 
session of peace not known in the preceding steps. 



THE heart's contrition. 89 

We must not dismiss this part of our investigation 
of the beKever's progress without once more revert- 
ing to what has been stated respecting the source 
from whence contrition flows. It has been asserted 
that this disposition is a covenant provision and a 
gift from above; and it is necessary that whilst we 
strenuously insist upon this truth, we should care- 
fully guard against a mistake into which some per- 
sons have fallen, respecting the attendant responsi- 
bility of man. We are not to infer, that because the 
grace of contrition is a free gift of the covenant, 
man is to be considered divested of his responsibility : 
he is a rational creature, and as such he is amenable 
to his Creator, and answerable for the use of those 
faculties which have been bestowed upon him. The 
secret counsels of God respecting His people being 
hid from us, we have a duty incumbent upon us 
all when the proclamation of warning, invitation, or 
promise is brought within our hearing, to consider it 
an address to ourselves ; for since these are couched 
in terms oi general application, and at the same time 
specify certain cases, etc., to which they are applica- 
ble (which cases answer to our own visible condi- 
tion), we are evidently guilty of deliberate contempt 
of the proclamation if we refuse to hear, and on this 
account shall be finally judged. 

This is evident from the manner in which the 
commission is given to men who are appointed to 



90 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

proclaim the Gospel salvation. These are com- 
manded to discharge a certain duty: they are sent 
upon a message, but not entrusted with the secret of 
the Lord, so as to know by whom that message will 
be received. The voice is to be elevated, and the 
tidings made known to men. There is indeed a 
lamentable mistake existing among some who occupy 
this station, who, looking upon the covenant in its 
relation to the elect, overlook the method which Grod 
has prescribed for proclaiming salvation ; and, as if 
they were entrusted with the secret, they deal out 
the testimony to such as they esteem to be the elect, 
or limit their ministration to the church, passing by 
the rest of the world as comparatively little worth 
attention. 

This, to say the least of it, is an error of judgment; 
for the Scriptures decidedly instruct us upon this 
point in a way which ought not to be misunderstood. 
Men are put into the ministry for the purpose of 
gathering in, or feeding the remnant. It is true the 
office of feeding the flock, and of dispensing bread to 
such as are already called in, may be considered as 
most precious, and a delightful occupation: but the 
duty of seeking up the scattered ones is equally im- 
portant and interesting. There are, as it is said, 
" Virgins without number," Cant, vi, 8 ; that is, 
souls that are yet unespoused to Christ by an effectual 
call of the Holy Ghost. These are to be bidden to 



THE heart's contrition. 91 

the marriage, and compelled to comie in. Il^ow, it is 
not by a bare proclamation of privileges that this is 
usually effected ; for sinners must be addressed cor- 
I'espondently with their condition and circumstances, 
so as to be made to recognize their own character as 
addressed with, " Thou art the man." Therefore the 
Scriptures are replenished with overtures and ad- 
dresses of this description. Some, in our day have, 
however, in defiance of the Bible testimony, afiirmed 
that there is no such method adopted in the Scrip- 
tures. What,. then, is to be understood of these ex- 
press passages? " And hath committed unto us the 
word of reconciliation." " l!^ow then we are ambas- 
sadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by 
us, we pray you in Christ's stead, he ye reconciled to 
God.'' 2 Cor. v, 19, 20. " We then, as workers 
together with Him, beseech you also, that ye receive 
not the grace of God (that is, this gracious dispen- 
sation) in vain." 2 Cor. vi, 1. " I Paul, myself be- 
seech you,"" 2 Cor. x, 1. " I beseech you, therefore, 
by the mercies of Uod," etc. Rom. xii, 1. " The 
Spirit and the bride say, Comej" Kev. xxii, 17. What 
is the signification of those entreaties, remonstrances, 
tender expostulations, etc., with which the Bible am- 
bassadors filled their mouths in obedience to the di- 
vine voice speaking by them? Thus, " Turn ye, turn 
ye, for why will ye die," Ezek. xxxiii, 11. " Repent 
and turn yourselves," Ezek. xiv, 6. " Repent ye, for 



92 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matt, iii, 2. A 
method adopted by our Lord Himself, Matt, iv, 17, 
and enjoined by Him to His commissioned witnesses, 
Luke xxiv, 47. Rev. ii, 5 ; iii, 3, 19. That the am- 
bassadors themselves thus understood their office is 
manifest. Then Peter exhorted the multitude, " Re- 
pent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name 
of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," Acts ii, 38. " Re- 
pent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins 
may be blotted out," Acts iii, 19. " But now (God) 
commandeth all men everywhere to repent," Acts xvii, 
30. " Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the 
Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward 
our Lord Jesus Christ," Acts xx, 21. And even in 
the instance of the wretched Simon, the sense of 
responsibilit}^ was urged home, and he was exhorted 
both to repent and to pray, Acts viii, 22. These con- 
siderations should be laid up as a shield against 
erroneous opinions and false statements, especially 
as the opinion of those who limit their addresses is 
presented under the plausible notion of exalting the 
covenant, whereas it is a limitation of the ministry to 
one branch of the service, and an interference with 
the mode appointed by the Lord. Congregations 
are composed of two parts — the church, or persons 
already savingly influenced, who must receive the 
food suitable to their advance and consolation ; and 



THE heakt's contrition. 93 

those who are yet in a state of ignorance or indeci- 
sion, who must be warned, encouraged, and pressed 
upon the grounds whereby they may appear most 
likely to be arrested. This is the Scriptural method 
of discharging the duties of an ambassador. And 
this gives most glory to Q-od, leaving it for the Holy 
Spirit to work invisibly and invincibly as He pleases, 
whilst he, as an ambassador, goes forth on his way, 
working with persevering charity and hope. 

Our subject upon the will, will manifest that we do 
not by this reasoning ascribe anything to man, of 
merits power, or right upon this subject; but as he is 
always addressed, and to be judged, as an intelligent 
creature, it becomes needful to show him that, as 
such, he is bound to seek, to knock, to ask. Matt, vii, 
7. And that, not doing so, he will be condemned 
for his unbelief and disobedience. Prov. i, 23-29. 

Let us on this occasion put the inquiry to our own 
hearts, whether we are discharging this responsi- 
bility, whether as rational creatures we are making 
trial of the overtures of mercy proclaimed in the 
Gospel, being persuaded that whilst continually un- 
affected and uninterested, we are manifestly in a 
perishing state, and are dooming ourselves to 
perdition ? Opportunities are rapidly passing away ; 
let them be seized ere they are past forever. Isa. 
Iv, 6. 

But possibly the former part of this subject is 
8 



94 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

most applicable to us. We have heard and obeyed 
the call, we have contended with our spiritual ad- 
versaries, we have had experience in the battle. O 
should this indeed be our case, let us increasingly 
cherish whatever may promote self -emptiness, taking 
up all our mortifying experiences as serviceable 
for the reduction of pride, vanity, and love of human 
applause; and striving to demonstrate more de- 
cidedly that we have been taught to appreciate the 
covenant provision of strength in the Lord. This is 
a state of soul highly estimated by its divine Au- 
thor ; and blessed promises are given for the conso- 
lation of all who in this sense possess a broken and 
a contrite heart. " Thus saith the high and lofty 
One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; 
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also 
that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the 
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the 
contrite ones. For I will not coutend forever." Isa. 
Ivii, 15, 16. 



THE POUKING FORTH OF THE HEART. 95 



THE POURING FORTH OF THE 
HEART BEFORE THE LORD. 

" Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches pour 
out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord : lift up thy 
hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint 
for hunger in the top of every street. — Lamentations ii, 19. 

'' Trust in him at all times ; ye people, pour out your heart before 
him : God is a refuge for us." — Psalm Ixii, 8. 

" Be careful for nothing ; but in everything by prayer and suppli- 
cation, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto 
God." — Philippians iv, 6. 

We must here pursue our inquiry into tlie expe - 
rience of the pilgrim, as following upon that state of 
contrition which he learns through the sanctified use 
of spiritual mortification. We have seen him, under 
a sense of his own impotency in the warfare, hum- 
hied and laid low before the Lord; and we have 
contemplated him in the midst of internal contrition, 
bursting from his heart in expressive sighs which 
proclaim his soul's distress. But this is not the full 
result of such exercises ; there is yet further demon- 
stration of penitence and faith, which is to be con- 
sidered as belonging to an advancement in the way. 
Abased and humbled as he is, and made willing to 
receive the m.ost painful accusations of personal 
guilt and desert of punishment, he is not hereby 



96 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

rendered reserved with Ms God. The same Holy 
Spirit, who is the author of his contrition, is the 
author of his confidential affiance, in which disposi- 
tion he comes to a state which we may describe as 
the povring forth of the heart before the Lord. 

It is highly interesting to observe how much this 
is a frame of soul generated and maintained in con- 
version ; and that, notwithstanding the most terrible 
experience of self-abasement, there is a filial spirit 
always, in some degree, in operation; so that the be- 
liever can exclaim, ^' Though He slay me, yet will I 
trust in Him." "I will trust in the covert of thy 
wings." " I will trust, and not be afraid." See Job 
xiii, 15 ; Ps. Ixi, 4 ; Isa. xii, 2. 

The manner in which this disposition is main- 
tained should always be kept in view, more particu- 
larly when we are considering the progressive advance 
of the life of faith, for the proportion of the Spirit in 
the believer will invariably prove to be according to 
the clearness of his vision of the Lord Jesus in His 
person and oflices. It is the purpose of the Holy 
Ghost always to present Christ to the eye of faith. 
The very spirit of prophecy is the testimony of 
Jesus ; and the office of the Spirit is peculiarly to 
testify of Christ. And although, in all the different 
stages we have examined in the past subjects, each 
gracious operation is to be considered as descending 
upon the soul in virtue of the Lord's finishing work 



THE POURING FORTH OF THE HEART. 97 

and mediatorial reign, it is requisite that there should 
be a more distinct manifestation of the cross than 
has hitherto appeared in these stages. If we look 
back upon the statement, it will appear that the soul 
has hitherto been chiefly occupied by the pain- 
ful contemplation of self. In this engagement he 
has found work enough to engross his thoughts, ex- 
cepting only as doctrinal truths have occasionally 
come in, either to convict him more deeply, or to 
sustain him by passing consolation. In many parts 
of his way he has been something like Ephraim, led 
and conducted by the Saviour, but ignorant of the hand 
that was guiding him. Hosea xi, 3. And, as the 
blind, led by a way that was not understood or fully 
appreciated.* But this is not to be admitted as an 
abiding condition. Since we, who were once alien- 
ated and strangers to Grod, are brought nigh only by 
the blood of the Mediator, it is requisite that we 
should spiritually discern the truth, and be admitted 
into the farther liberty which such discoveries pro- 
duce. For this end the Holy Spirit proceeds to con- 
duct the soul to those blessed heights of Calvary 
whereon Jesus crucified may be contemplated, and 
sin felt in connection with a sight of its great antidote 
in Christ. 

* "And I will bring the blind by a way thai they knew not ; I will 
lead them in paths that they have not known : I will make darkness 
light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I 
do unto them, and not forsake them." — Isaiah xlii, 16. 

8* 



98 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

It is at the foot of the cross that we learn the essen- 
tial truths of revelation eifectuallj and savingly. Our 
Lord has testified, " 'No man knoweth who the Son is 
but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, 
and he to whom the Son will reveal Him." St. 
Luke X, 22. This revelation is given through the 
exhibition of the great sacrifice : and therefore what- 
ever belongs to powerful discoveries of Jehovah in 
His covenant character, and sovereign glory, must be 
sought and received through Jesus crucified. It is 
hereby that the mind is filled with just apprehensions 
of the righteousness of the eternal I^ame. The be- 
liever, standing at the foot of the cross, lifts his eyes 
to that amazing spectacle which is before him on the 
tree. Until now he had obtained his views of justice 
through the medium of Sinai's lowering clouds and 
thunders, and by the condemning law set home upon 
his alarmed conscience : but now he perceives by the 
groans of Calvary an extent of this awful attribute 
hitherto unconceived. The costliness of the ofiering 
which justice required fills him with awe; he hears 
the commission '' Awake, sword, against the man 
that is my fellow, saith the Lord." Zech. xiii, 7. 
And contemplating the attendant manifestation of 
the unrelaxing severity of the righteous demand for 
satisfaction to the law, and atonement for ofiended 
holiness, his thoughts are enlarged into afiecting 
conceptions of the evil of sin, and the sanctity of Him 



THE POURING FORTH OF THE HEART. 99 

asrainst whom it is committed. Here he beholds sin 
condemned in the flesh, even in Him who is the Holy 
One, but on whom the weight of imputed guilt was 
laid; he shudders at the frightful exposure of his own 
desert, whilst he looks upon it as endured by his 
surety; and he prostrates his soul before the Just 
Grod. But justice alone is not the object which arrests 
his attention; love, in all its inconceivable heights and 
depths, is here displayed. That the dreadful Judge 
should have voluntarily provided an expiation for 
the crimes of the criminal ; that since nothing short 
of the sacrifice of the eternal Son could suffice, that 
Son should be given; that this gift should be be- 
stowed for transgressors, who were in arms against 
the law and the Lawgiver; and that foes should be 
the subject of this grace, demonstrates so vast an. ex- 
cellence in the love of God, as overwhelms the soul 
in wonder, praise, and gratitude. When in addition 
to this he considers the tenderness of Jesus' breast; 
how he was no forced sacrifice, but the willing atone- 
ment, coming forth in His own voluntary purpose of 
grace, and persisting in that purpose ; rising superior 
to all obstacles, all sufierings, and yielding Himself 
up in unconquerable love for man: manifestations 
such as these open a new world upon his admiring 
mind, and at the same time present a forcible arrest 
upon his affections, all tending to awaken within 
him afresh the retrospective acts by which he looks 



100 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

upon liis past transgressions, his alienation, Ms im- 
penitency, his obduracy, now rising before him in 
deeper malignity, as committed against such justice — 
such love — such tenderness ! 

But here let us observe, it is a loving grief that runs 
through the soul. A sight of God in Christ so re- 
vealed persuades of grace and willingness to pardon 
and to bless; a stream of sacred hope cheers and re- 
vives the spirit; and in this frame of mind encourage- 
ment and motive is given for "pouring forth the heart. 

Let our attention be fixed upon the interesting 
object which is now to be contemplated in the believer 
himself^ in whose bosom there is now awakened 
glowing expectations and hopes. He now ventures 
to look forth from his own heart, and comparatively 
to forget himself in the Lord : he sees and feels his 
sin with inward anguish, but he also beholds the all- 
sufficient Antidote ; round the foot of the cross we 
hear the lowly voice murmuring its tender distress 
and heartfelt importunity. Amidst these sacred 
sounds we listen to the touching expression — "Lord, 
I am sick;" and with it we hear the connected appeal, 
" My sickness cure !" ^o words of Scripture can 
describe his spiritual disease in stronger terms than 
he is ready to admit. He feels that there is no sound- 
ness, no health in him : but he has now a faith in 
the promise, which animates him to seek its applica- 
tion. The Lord has engaged to strengthen that 



THE POURING FORTH OF THE HEART. 101 

which is sick, to heal that which is diseased, and ex- 
pressly engages, " I "^^dll bring it health and cure."* 
On this promise he rests with grateful desire; and, 
beholding the opened medium through which this 
salvation is extended, he entreats that it may come 
to him. But sickness is not all he has to confess : he 
perceives that in his disease there is filthiness, defile- 
ment, infection; and deeply convicted on this ground, 
he is heard to plead, " Lord, I am unclean; make 
me clean." His faith lays hold upon the fullness of 
the opened fountain, wherein there is not only blood 
to expiate, but to relieve and purify also ; and he 
urges his suit, that if the ashes of an heifer under the 
law availed toward those who were ceremonially 
unclean, much more the sacrifice of the great sub- 
stance of those shadows may be pleaded for purity 
and peace of conscience. Experience such as we 
have contemplated in the Christian's course will 
furnish such an one with further arguments and 
earnest supplication. We hear him bewailing, " Lord, 
I am weak ; Thou knowest my inability to work the 
work of God ; I cannot believe ; I cannot contend ; 
I cannot succeed, unless Thou art my help; 
strengthen my strengthless soul ; and as this is the 
method by which Thou art magnified, show it in me, 
the weakest of Thy helpless sheep. Thou knowest it 
to be needful, since I wrestle with foes that are 
* See Jeremiah xxxiii, 6. 



102 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

mighty, and struggle with fetters that are strong. 
And hear my further suit : since Thou art rich and I 
am poor, O make me rich ! Thou hast taught me 
that I am ' miserable, and poor, and naked' but Thou 
hast also declared how Thou didst humble Thyself 
for the purpose of elevating Thy people to a share in 
Thy possessions ; give me this heritage, and thus 
cause my soul to forget its poverty, and to rejoice !" 

Such is the language of a soul under these divine 
operations. It is the pouring forth of penitence, the 
utterance of contrition, the faith which appreciates the 
atonement, and the love that longs to make it its own. 

It is true the manner in which these affections are 
expressed may differ, according to the measure of 
faith, or operation of the Holy G-host. Sometimes 
they are expressed in the fullness of emphatic words, 
and out of the abundance of the heart utterance 
flows freely. At other times they find no suitable 
clothing save that of groaning and tears, the spirit 
within making intercession with groanings which 
cannot be uttered. But the desires are the same, and 
the spirit speaketh before Grod, who readeth the 
heart's emotion, and listeneth to the expressive sigh. 
There are two things, however, wherein no difference 
is discoverable when the soul is thus influenced. 
There will always be faith in the sufficiency of the 
Antidote, and desire to appropriate its virtue. The 
teachings which come from the anointing are always 



THE POURING FORTH OF THE HEART. 103 

such as demonstrate that Christ is an all-prevailing 
propitiation. And in this degree of experience, it is 
understood that He has obtained an everlasting 
priesthood, wherefore He is able to save to the utter- 
most all that come unto God by Him. The nature 
of the foundation laid in Zion, the prevailing char- 
acter of the mediatorial reign, the security of such as 
are interested in the covenant, are truths which faith 
now apprehends. There is, therefore, no hesitation 
upon this point ; the solicitude of the soul is that it 
may be felt and applied to itself; and this is ex- 
pressed in appeals like that of the leper of old, 
" Lord, if Thou wilt. Thou canst make me clean." 
Matt, viii, 2. 

We must not, however, lose sight of the affecting 
truth, that in every period of Christian experience 
there remains the life of old principles belonging to 
the flesh, and that upon these Satan will act, so that 
the soul has to encounter the combined forces of 
these adversaries to peace at all times, and never 
more so than in the particular period now described. 
By these powers of darkness the efforts of faith are 
resisted, and fain would they prevail to darken the 
cross and throw an obscurity upon the doctrines that 
it proclaims. For this end attempts are made to 
work upon the mind through human opinions and 
injudicious statements, so as to produce prejudice 
against the revelation or misconception of its tend- 



104 PROGEESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

ency. If this will not prevail, it is attempted to in- 
sinuate, that although the doctrines are in themselves 
unobjectionable, in their application thej are question- 
able, and that in respect of the case of this individual 
soul, not to be appropriated. In some instances the 
assault may be of a perfectly different description, 
the endeavor of the enemy being rather to decrease 
the sense of sin than to aggravate the distress of the 
mind. Advantage for this assault is sometimes 
given from the very circumstance of the greatness of 
preceding convictions. There is such a thing as a 
soul desperately disposed to harden itself in sorrow, 
as Job expresses it. Job vi, 10, dreading the misery 
which a sense of guilt produces, and hence fearing 
to admit the anguish which it demands. Thus human 
reasonings, exercises, or evasions may be imposed 
upon the soul in place of a disposition to pour forth 
the heart before the Lord. But suppose none of 
these temptations present themselves ; we know that 
every believer is liable to the state of inconsistency 
which frequently follows upon seasons of prostration. 
Too often the tenderness which was felt to soften 
every feeling of the heart is strangely succeeded by 
coldness ; the awe with which the divine glory was 
contemplated gives place to surprising indifference. 
The eye that was singly bent upon the one attractive 
object is miserably diverted from its simplicity, and 
the Scripture rebuke and exhortations become affect- 



THE POURING FORTH OF THE HEART. 105 

ingly applicable. Every well-experienced soul will 
be aware of this truth ; and, if he has been observant 
of his own heart, will have discovered that even the 
foot of the cross is not a region where spiritual ene- 
mies will not dare to intrude, neither are the mc- 
ments of the outpouring of the heart free from the 
attempts of an indwelling and watchful foe. Whilst, 
therefore, we behold the pilgrim with a sympathetic 
joy that he has so far reached a blessed, sacred spot, 
and traversed his way successfully ; whilst we listen 
to his opened heart, made known by a strain of 
peculiar sweetness which none but the Hol}^ Ghost 
can call forth from his bosom, we must unite the 
recollection of his native instability, exposure, and 
dependence, and understand that he has not this ex- 
perience without his accompanying perils and need 
for vigilance. 

This subject principally addresses itself to believers. 
It describes an experience which none can properly 
comprehend but such as are regenerate. Testimo- 
nies of this nature may be said to be among the 
things bound up and sealed among the disciples. 
Isa. viii, 16. We should, therefore, be exceedingly 
solicitous to determine wh-ether we are savingly 
acquainted with any of these peculiarities. 

In the first place, ever bearing in mind that the 
great end of revelation is the exhibition of God's 
dear Son in the covenant of life, and the great rela- 
9 



106 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

tion He bears to creation. When individually examin- 
ing our state, inquiries should be pressed home upon 
our discoveries on this particular. We should ask 
if our conflicts, our contrition and profession have 
been sanctified to bring us to this blessed object, so 
that we are laid low at the foot of the cross ? Whether 
in this attitude we are in truth relinquishing every 
hope of salvation save Avhat is found in the great 
provision of the Sacrifice, there exclaiming in the 
sincerity of an humbled soul, " Truly in vain is salva- 
tion hoped for from the hills, truly in the Lord our God 
is the salvation of Israel !" Jer. iii, 23. Whether, 
whilst thus admitting the truth doctrinally, we are 
exercising hope therein individually^ receiving this 
testimony as God hath proclaimed it in its freeness 
and fullness for the chief of sinners ? Meeting the 
merciful proclamation, that in Christ, as the eternal 
Rock, the soul may securely anchor, and that He will 
never cast out one who comes thus unto Him. Heb. 
vi, 16, 17; viii, 10-12. 

We should also endeavor alw^ays to obtain our 
views of sin through the medium of the cross, not in 
the mere letter of the law, but in this awful exhibi- 
tion of all that attends its sacred character and divine 
sanction. Such views are best calculated to cherish 
real contrition, and to fill us with liberty also: so 
that, whilst conscious of our own desert, we may also 
speak unto God in the language of filial trust. This 



THE POURING FORTH OF THE HEART. 107 

pouring forth of the heart ought to be habitually 
practiced: we should, therefore, look well to our 
course, and examine if we are thus engaged each 
day of our pilgrimage: at the same time seizing 
upon every occasion wherein the exercise is espe- 
cially required. Such occasions will arise. Times 
of sorrow, seasons of conflict, and, alas ! sometimes 
sad evidences of sin. And under these no refuge 
can be found except our God. '^o comfort but that 
which is derived from our living Head. To whom, 
therefore, should we go ? [N'one but Jesus can relieve, 
and to none should we pour forth the heart with so 
much confidential trust. As this is one of the first 
acts of genuine faith, so let it be one of the last in 
every stage of pilgrimage ; reserve or distance with 
the Lord being dreaded as a grievous evil, and the 
searchings of His Spirit admitted as our greatest 
good. 

And should we not be able at all times to pour 
forth the heart with liberty of words, let us beware 
of undervaluing the heart's sighs and groans. The 
Lord has no need of words in order to understand 
what we would have and desire. Therefore, we must 
not fall into the sin of despondency, as if He would 
be inattentive to the voice of our sorrowing heart. 

Should we be privileged to trace our own likeness 
in these particulars, let us not refuse the cordial cup. 
We need the consolations of the Spirit in such a 



108 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

world as this ; and if we possess a Scripture warrant 
to receive them, why are we foolish enough to hesi- 
tate ? Distressed perhaps we are, and may yet be, 
but possessions such as have been described do not 
belong to a state of nature ; we therefore may take 
comfort. 

Should we be destitute of such distinctions, let us 
be alarmed by the discovery, and desire a sight of 
Jesus such as saints have had ; and ask the Holy 
Spirit's guiding grace, for He alone can bring us 
to the cross. He will not reject the upright cry; 
let Him hear it ascending from the ground of our 
heart. 



THE SURRENDER OF THE HEART. 109 



THE SURRENDER OF THE HEART I^ 
DEVOTTO]^^ TO THE LORD. 

"I know whom I have believed, and arn persuaded that he is able 
to keep that which I have committed unto him against tliat 
day."— 2 Timothy i, 12. 

We considered in our last subject the divine 
operation of grace effectually conducting the believer 
to the foot of the cross, and there pouring forth 
spiritual illumination to the increased view of the 
divine perfections. Justice and love more especially 
giving forth their glorious beams from the spectacle 
exhibited on the tree. In this situation the evils of 
sin, as committed against the Holy One, attended 
with believing perception of the efficacious Antidote 
provided in the propitiation, were considered as prin- 
cipal subjects of interest and revelation to the believing 
soul, encouraging the confidential expression of im- 
portunate desires after the blessing, in a full disclos- 
ure and pouring forth of the heart. In connection 
with this experience, there is another blessed influ- 
ence derived from the sight of the cross, forming a 
distinct and important branch of experience. It 
consists of a fervent desire for union wdth Christ, 
and for the sense of that union shed abroad within 
the heart, differing from the mere expression or 
9* 



110 PROGEESSIVE EXPEEIENCE. 

desire after the benefits of redemption, and arising 
out of strong, genuine, and disinterested love. It 
lias been argued by many, that an affection to Christ 
cannot exist separately from the union of some 
benefit or advantage procured to the soul by Him, 
and that it is impossible to dissever the ideas of love 
and personal benefit. Unquestionably the sense of 
Christ's redeeming grace, and a solicitous desire for 
its application, necessarily belong to a Christian ex- 
istence, and will necessarily inspire the affection of 
gratitude in the believer's heart. But this is not the 
whole extent of that feeling which is wrought by the 
Holy Ghost in the soul. There is undoubtedly such 
a view given of the personal excellency of Christ as 
serves to attract the affections to the blessed object 
for what He is in Himself ^ independently of His grace 
manifested to ourselves individually : and without 
this we appear to be defective in one of the most 
essential parts of genuine love, and admiration of the 
eternal Son. If we examine the nature of this degree 
of experience, we shall obtain some satisfaction upon 
this point. 

In the first place, it arises out of a spiritual dis- 
cernment into the extent of Christ's act of love and 
condescension to man, in which the believer dis- 
covers an excellency that absorbs his thoughts, and 
turns him upon intense wonder and praise. He is now 
if we mav so speak) at leisure, or willing to look off 



THE SURRENDER OF THE HEART. Ill 

from himself in some degree, and to admit the 
attractive power of the Lord. Hitherto he has heen 
almost engrossed by his own concerns and miseries, 
but now he can suspend these anxious cares, because 
he experiences the rising of a vehement and strong 
impulse toward Christ, before unknown. The imrc- 
servedness of the Lord's love fills him with wonder : 
he beholds Him readily giving Himself, and without 
any compromise freely devoting His own most holy 
person for the salvation of men. A new light now 
breaks upon him from the Scripture testimony, that 
thus He gave Himself; and he remembers with rap- 
ture the several passages which proclaim this gift. 
Gal. i, 4 ; Titus ii, 14 ; Ephes. v, 2. These affections 
are increased through the advanced understanding 
he possesses of the nature of Christ, both as it re- 
spects His self-existent glory, and His relative ofiice 
as Messiah. He is now possessed of high discov- 
eries into the sublime truths which respect the sove- 
reign majesty of the eternal Son, and with sacred im- 
pressions of the mediatorial kingdom which is estab- 
lished in Christ. What, then, are the emotions of his 
soul, when he reads that in Him there is a glory 
reserved for the people of God, Avhich shall dignify 
them with a full participation of His honor ? He 
dwells upon the testimony, " If children, then heirs, 
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." He dis- 
covers in this passage a covenant purpose, that would 



112 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

not be admissible were not the testimony from God 
Himself. The heirship of Christ is vast, and great, 
and unbounded ; He is Head and Lord of creation 
by this peculiar right, Heb. i, 2, and shall spread His 
rule over all. The thought of participation in this 
rule would be deemed blasphemous had it not been 
appointed of God. And wonderful indeed does that 
declaration appear wherein Jesus says, " To him 
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my 
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down 
with my Father in His throne." Rev. iii, 21. " To 
Him will I give power over the nations, and He 
shall rule them with a rod of iron : as the vessels of 
a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I 
received of my Father. And I will give Him the 
morning star." Rev. ii, 26-28. Amazing words of 
grace ! incomprehensible dignit}^ of the saints ! ex- 
alting the saved in their glorious Head, and exalting 
that Head in the affection of His saints, as having so 
much power, so much grace, and so much conde- 
scension. These emotions are kindled into a yet 
higher flame, when it is remembered that the glory 
of Messiah is founded in blood: that the relative 
dignity which He possesses, as Mediator, is confirmed 
on the foundation of His own finished work ; and that 
on the same foundation the glory of His people is estab- 
lished. These are thoughts which fill the soul with 
tenderness, united with admiration, and prepare thQ 



THE SURRENDER OP THE HEART. 113 

way for the development of that feeling which we 
are now invest! o^atin 2:. The iirra belief of these 
truths, set home by immediate views of the dying 
Lamb, has a wonderfully magnetic power, attracting 
the heart that has been touched by the Holy Ghost, 
drawing it irresistibly to the Lord, and filling the 
mouth with the ready expression of its tribute. The 
language of the spouse is now comprehensible in the 
fullest sense, and the Saviour, thus contemplated, is 
confessed to be both " white and ruddy, the chiefest 
among ten thousand" and " altogether lovely." Ex- 
perience now throws its powerful interpretation upon 
the mystic words. The whiteness of His immaculate 
innocence is rendered more touchingly lovely by the 
crimson stains with which His own blood has dyed 
the offering; and truly does the heart now appre- 
ciate the words which describe the saint's devoted 
estimation of the Lord, exclaiming with the rest of 
believing souls, " Who is like unto Thee ?" Thus 
we perceive that the excellency of the object has its 
claim upon our love answered, and that, distinct 
from the idea of personal advantage, there is a sur- 
render of the heart as captivated by the manifesta- 
tion of Christ. 

In the next place, we must observe that love of 
this description will generate desires after the pos- 
session of the object beloved. Kot with the formally 
conceived idea of having thereby a rich property in 



114 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

the things procured by Christ ; were this the chief 
feeling, it would be mercenary and selfish. Love asks 
for return of love, because its estimate of the object 
is entire : and in this sense the soul is restless for 
the power to say, " who loved me and^ave himself for 
me." This desire will not find entire satisfaction, 
even in the appropriation of the tenderest appella- 
tions by which Christ is described. It is very blessed 
to call Him Lord, shepherd, brother, friend, com- 
panion : but this is not ihQ nearness which love 
asks : the indwelling of Christ can alone answer this 
desire; the power to say I live, yet not I, but 
*' Christ livefh in me,'' and the privilege of feeling that 
there is an indwelling also of the soul in Christ, we 
in Him and He in us : so that it should no longer be 
as a divided existence, but as intimately one. Such 
aifections receive their sanction from the word : they 
are thereby delivered from the charge of wild enthu- 
siasm, or of vagrant reveries. Christ has invested 
them with solidity and truth, as the work of the 
Hoty Ghost, and as correspondent with His own 
eternal purpose. Iq this very spirit He clothed His 
prayer for the saints saying, " That they also may 
be one in us." " I in them and thou in me, that they 
may be made perfect in one." John xvii, 22, 23. And 
thus He declares His own covenant will, " I will 
dwell in them, and walk in them." 2 Cor. vi, 16. 
Tender solicitude will now arise within the breast. 



THE SURRENDER OF THE HEART. 115 

and some anxious thoughts be ready to break forth : 
but may this privilege be mine? and, how can it be? 
The solicitude, as it respects willingness on the part 
of Christ, is quickly answered by the very manifesta- 
tion which has attracted the heart. From such a 
one as is seen on the cross, every degree of mercy 
and grace may be expected. The freeness of His 
unreserved love bears a stamp upon it, which pre- 
sents encouragement to the most miserable. En- 
livening reflections now animate the soul. Thus he 
reasons, " The gift is free without any consideration 
of worth or excellence in the world : the grace is ex- 
tended in cases wherein no pretension of merit does 
exist : sinners most debased have been objects of this 
mercy, and no vileness or personal wretchedness 
shall be an obstacle to a salvation thus constituted. 
The testimony is, that He came to seek the lost, and 
to save sinners. This faithful saying I do believe; 
neither shall my miserable extent of ruin form an 
objection to my hope. I say indeed, "of whom I am 
chief," but in saying this, I do not propose a subject 
of despair. Still it is possible that Jesus may admit 
even me to union with Himself!" Much encourage- 
ment is also derived from the consciousness of having 
feelings that could not have existed but by grace 
already received. He is now experimentally sure of 
the fact, " 'No man can come to me except the Father 
draw him." John vi, 44. He is, however, come, and 



116 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

stands in that hallowed spot where with loving eyes 
he looks on Him who died for man. He remembers 
the words of Jesus, "And I, if I be lifted up, will 
draw all men unto me." John xii, 32. He feels 
that his soul has been attracted by some irresistible 
power, and that the Saviour's words have manifestly 
had an accomplishment in him. That the Father 
and the Son have been operating upon him appears 
therefore unquestionable. And since the Holy Grhost 
is the divine witness, and effectual author of these 
covenant purposes, he rises into confidence of the 
eternal mercy toward himself. Looking back upon 
his past course, he discovers a strict agreement be- 
tween God's dispensation to him, and that to Israel, 
*' I drew them with cords of a man;" that is, ten- 
derly, sympathetically, in my incarnate purpose as 
Emmanuel : " With bands of love," that is, with 
covenant indissoluble union. '' I was to them as 
they that take off the 3'oke on their jaws, and I laid 
meat unto them." A figure borrowed from ancient 
custom in feeding the cattle, and releasing them from 
labor, strikingly shadowing forth a release from the 
yoke and servitude of sin, and a participation of the 
Gospel provisions : all well known to such as answer 
to the state of experience we are considering, and 
forminof strono- confirmation to faith. As the result 
of such reflections, he is ready to comfort his spirit, 
saying, surely herein I discover ground for hope : I 



THE SURRENDER OF THE HEART. 117 

have been drawn tenderly, released mightily, sup- 
plied with spiritual appetite, and taught to love the 
descending manna. May I not believe that because 
He has loved me with an everlasting love, therefore 
with loving-kindness He has drawn me? And shall 
I not rejoice in the persuasion that this threefold 
cord cannot be broken? O may the eternal God- 
head thus throw around me His encompassing grace, 
and my present station, as I stand at the foot of the 
cross, be the consequence of this enduring grace. 
Hos. xi, 4 ; Jer. xxxi, 3 ; Eccles. iv, 12. 

These are consolations that are necessary, and 
without which the hope of union could not exist. 
The believer retains his consciousness of impotency 
to do any good thing, and knows that no power can 
prevail to unite so vagrant a heart as his to Christ, 
save only the power of Christ Himself. Too often 
he has proved that his own affections are fluctuating, 
and that his heart is a vagabond, loving to wander. 
He cannot, therefore, trust his own ability; and he is 
likewise quite aware that were he to bring his heart 
as an offering to the Lord, and profess his own 
willingness toward the union, there are too many 
lamentable accompaniments of evil for him to be 
secure from the fear of rejection, unless his Lord will 
undertake to supply all that is needful. Hence he 
is beginning to learn the value of precious doctrines 
experimentally, and out of these excitements groves 
10 



118 PROGEESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

up into clearer views of the excellency of tlie Lord's 
sovereignty and covenant grace. On these he casts 
himself, as affording the strong and only ground of 
support. And here he delights to abide, exercising 
the acts of faith which belong to this degree of love. 
One of the first acts is an expression of prayer. 
Courage is taken to put into words the hidden solici- 
tude of the soul, and none are found more aptly de- 
scribing what is felt than the simple entreaty of the 
church, " Draw me, we will run after thee." Cant, 
i, 4. Let us well observe the extent of this sentiment. 
It contains in it a sense of helplessness, an expecta- 
tion of help, and an integrity of design ; all answer- 
able to the language of the heart. It is a disposi- 
tion still more comprehensively expressed by the 
words of the Psalmist, '' Bind the sacrifice with cords, 
even unto the horns of the altar." Ps. cxviii, 27. A 
prayer which gathers import if we look further into 
the Scriptures. St. Paul, in his epistle to the He- 
brews, afi3.rms, " We have an altar, whereof they have 
no right to eat which serve the tabernacle," Heb. xiii, 
10; and proceeding in his testimony, shows how 
Christ is an altar, exhorting us to offer thereon our 
sacrifice of praise to God continually. l!^ow we know 
that the altars reared by God's direction in the 
Jewish economy were typical of Christ; and remem- 
bering our Lord's words, " Whether is greater, the 
gift or the altar that sanctijieth the gift ?" Matt, xxiii. 



THE SURRENDER OP THE HEART. 119 

19, we have a blessed exposition of the believer's 
prayer. He desires to be brought as a living sacrifice 
to Christ, his sanctifying altar: he earnestly asks 
to be bound to the horns thereof, to be an ad- 
hering subject and visible trophy of Christ's 
dominion and power, made so by the drawings of 
God's invincible grace. For this he prays. 

In the offering which he brings he is directed by 
the example of Christ ; and from the impulse of love, 
brings his unreserved gift. ]^othing short of a whole 
self is proffered. With this he offers all of which he 
may be supposed possessed. It is no empty skeleton 
of sacrifice, but substantially his all, to be disposed 
of and used as the Lord may please, and if it be 
requisite, to become a witness for truth even unto 
death. Rev. xii, 11. 

But this is not all. He surrenders himself as an 
offering laid upon the altar, waiting for the witness 
of acceptance; and standing as it were by his own 
sacrifice, he thus entreats, " Come, Holy Ghost, de- 
scend like fire ; fall on my offering, and give the 
token that it is accepted on high. Come, purify it 
from its mixtures of evil : come, kindle the vehement 
flame of love and zeal. Assure me that what is now 
expressed of longings for union, and of willingness 
on my part toward the blessed compact, is the effect 
of Thy own operation, and shall be answered with 
' grace for grace.' " 



120 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

These are the dispositions which belong to this 
advancement in the Christian course, expressing a 
restless desire after a possession, without which it is 
impossible the believer can have peace. It is the 
effect of strong internal impulse toward Christ, as 
the absorbing object of affection, and will not be 
satisfied until answered by a power to say, " I am 
my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." 

The consideration of what ensues must be post- 
poned : we have here before us sufficient for serious 
self-examination. 

In the first place, however, there is a point of doc- 
trine on which we should do well to receive caution 
from the subject before us. The doctrine of union 
as subsisting between Christ and his people is pro- 
fessedly believed by all informed Christians. We 
clearly understand that it never was the design of 
God to make Christians by merely giving to men a 
Christian name, but that they are made so by an in- 
grafting into Christ, as the branch of the vine, John 
XV, 5. We know that this is requisite in order to 
salvation, and that without it we are dead and profit- 
less before God. But errors have prevailed in the 
ideas connected with this doctrine, and in the method 
of stating it, against which we should be guarded, 
for they involve great relative consequences. It is 
not unfrequent that men will talk of eternal justifica- 
tion and eternal union, meaning thereby that a man is 



THE SURRENDER OF THE HEART. 121 

from all eternity in a state of justification or state, of 
union : thus throwing confusion into the covenant 
revelation, confounding the eternal purpose of God 
with the positive act. ^o doubt the privileges in ques- 
tion are both everlastingly designed. God will justify 
his elect. Rom. viii, 33. And these shall be brought 
into their privileges through union with Christ. But 
they are not in the state described until the Holy 
Ghost has wrought in them the grace of faith, which 
is the appointed instrument of appropriation in these 
benefits. It is said, " Whom he called, them he also 
justified." liom. viii, 30. And " by whom ye were 
called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ 
our Lord," 1 Cor. i, 9. And "that Christ may dwell 
in your hearts by faith,'^ Eph. iii, 17. These are 
blessings known in time in the day of God^s power, and 
consequently upon the Spirit's application of electing 
love to the chosen. Previously to this operation, we 
are in a state of darkness, and in fellowship with Be- 
lial : there can, therefore, be no union existing between 
us and Christ, as the apostle shows, 2 Cor. vi, 14. " If 
we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have 
fellowship one with another," 1 John i, 7. There 
is, therefore, much impropriety in using the term 
eternal union in the sense which some persons in- 
tend. We are children of wrath, even as others, pre- 
viously to our regeneration. And although the work 
of an accepted surety prevails to secure us from the 
10* 



122 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

execution of wrath, we are not during that period in 
the state of oneness with Christ, or objects wherein 
his complacent love resides. Of this the souls of 
God's people are made sensible; and hence arises 
that solicitude we have described, rendering them so 
restless to obtain assurance, and evidence of the ex- 
istence of this privilege. 

We may now proceed to examine the present 
state of our own souls, and in so doing should re- 
member that there is a meetness for the sensible assur- 
ance of union with Christ, without which it will not 
be given us. Neither indeed will desire after this 
privilege be properly possessed until the Holy Ghost, 
in His preparatory operation, has produced in us 
supreme love of the object with whom we desire the 
union. We have, therefore, to inquire whether our 
heart is thus captivated, whether the disposition 
toward union is sincerely wrought in us by the 
surrender of our affections, so that we can truly 
say, " My heart is fixed, God, my heart is fixed," 
Psalm Ivii, 7. The work of the Holy Ghost will be 
discoverable by this result. There will be the reve- 
lation of Jesus Christ to the soul in such power as 
will act like the shining forth of a hot sunbeam upon 
the internal region of the heart, consuming all baser 
fires, and destroying the corrupt flame which burns 
upon the altar of a natural heart; so that whilst 
relative affection to creatures is strong and pure, it 



THE SURRENDER OF THE HEART. 123 

is suhordinate, and exists not in its native character 
of rivalry with Christ. The fervent solicitude of the 
mind is now bent upon the attainment of Christ's 
love ; and human solicitudes sink into comparative 
nothingness. There lives within the breast this con- 
tinual sentiment, '• Whom have I in heaven but 
thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire 
beside thee," Psalm Ixxiii, 25. " Yea, I count all 
things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus," Phil, iii, 8. These aifections are 
also attended with humility. There is no merit 
attached to them, no expectations derived from them., 
but the habitual and abiding consciousness of un- 
worthiness ; so that the spirit \A^it8 for demonstra- 
tions of the Lord's readiness to enter into the com- 
pact, with tenderness and self-abasement, and a sense 
of the condescension which must be in action if this 
grace be given. In such a frame of mind the believer 
will be willing humbly to give the heart just as it is, 
that the Lord may make it meet to be His own ; and 
with confidence that, if accepted. He can and will 
produce in it everything needful for the preservation 
of the bond. These are peculiar feelings wrought 
by the Spirit; vv^e should seek for them as produced 
within our own heart, examining our state upon the 
several dispositions described. Have I this supreme 
love of the object of faith, so that He lives with unri- 
valed dominion in my heart ? Have I a willingness 



124 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

to sacrifice all other affections when they rise up as 
obstacles to my supreme devotion to the Lord ? Am 
I in the spirit of humility and proffering my heart 
with a due sense of my own unworthiness ? Have I 
loving confidence in the power of the Lord to make 
me all that I ought to be ? And can I trust Him to 
look upon and maintain His own work of grace 
within me ? 

If we answer with satisfaction to these inquiries, 
we have reason to rejoice, and to lay hold of the con- 
solatory evidence of having been conducted thus far 
by the heavenly Guide. We should give Him praise 
for the dispensation, cheerfully raise our song of 
gratitude, and patiently, though fervently, wait for 
further manifestations. If unable to satify our own 
minds upon these points, we ought to be distressed, 
and awakened to more energy in our Christian 
course. To be destitute of these affections, evidences 
that we are either in our native death and distance 
from God, or that we are grieving the Spirit by 
allowing something in our course which impedes our 
way. In either case we are guilty, and lie exposed 
to punishment. Let us not then madly yield to this 
spiritual apathy, for our destitution is complete if 
we have not Christ, and our profession is barren if 
we are not in conscious union with Him. 



LONGING OF THE HEART. 125 



LOJ^aiNG OF HEAKT FOR CONSCIOUS 

UE'IO^^. 

" I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I 
hope." — PsAiiM cxxx, 5. 

It must be our object on the present occasion to 
consider the result of that anxious expression of love 
on the part of the believer, which we last examined. 
We beheld him in the experience of fervent desires 
after union with Christ, arising from an absorption 
of his affections and admiration of the Lord as the 
chiefest among ten thousand; and as led to exclaim 
with unfeigned surrender of his heart, '' I am my 
beloved's." We must now ascertain if he be privi- 
leged to say, " And his desire is toward me," or, 
" My beloved is mine." See Psalm xxiii. 

In answer to this interesting and important in- 
quiry, we must, in the first place, realize some of the 
important doctrines which stand prominently before 
us in the sacred Scriptures. It is necessary in a 
question such as this that the judgment be persuaded. 
The mere excitement of passion or movement of 
feeling will not satisfy a soul sincerely anxious to 
determine the degree of his liberty to appropriate 
Christ ; these may be delusive ; and nothing short 



126 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

of solid ground for assurance will suffice to settle the 
question in peace to the soul. Let us then bear in 
mind that Jesus has said, " 'No man can come to 
Me, except the Father draw him." John vi, 44. 
Let us remember that the Bible testimony is, " We 
love Him, because He first loved us." 1 John iv, 
19. If, therefore, we are come to Christ accord- 
ing to the statement in our last subject, or have 
the consciousness that we do indeed love Him, we 
possess a sure witness of the divine operation in 
the heart, and a pledge of the free love of a cove- 
nant God. It is also expressly affirmed that he 
who cometh unto Christ, He " will in nowise cast 
out;" and that the}^ who bring their sacrifices be- 
fore the Lord shall find them accepted by Him; 
and that the proffered surrender of body, soul, and 
spirit, which it is the anxious desire of the believer 
that the Lord will receive, is not only a reasonable 
but an acceptable service : see John vi, 37 ; 1 John 
iv, 19 ; Isa. Ivi, 7, 8 ; Rom. xii, 1. Here we have 
sure ground on which to establish the expectation of 
faith ; proving, that if we answer to this description 
of character, we cannot either reasonably or Scrip- 
turally doubt the success of our desires. To think 
otherwise would be to dispute the truth and faithful- 
ness of the Lord; and would also involve a denial of 
those essential doctrines which reveal to us that man 
is by nature a fallen creature, that he inherits an 



LONGING OF THE HEART. 127 

awful apostasy from his descent, as the oiFspring of 
an alienated parent; that in this apostasy there is 
resolute enmity against his Maker, and also an entire 
impotency in everything which belongs to spiritual 
things; so that even were he rendered willing to 
return, he would still be incapable of eftecting that 
return, excepting as he is supernaturally influenced. 
Hence it will follow^ that whenever a sinner is brought 
to the foot of the cross, with dispositions which yearn 
after and long for intimate union with the Lord, he 
must necessarily be considered as under the mighty 
and covenant operation of the Holy Ghost. 

But we are not left merely to draw conclusions 
which may satisfy ; we are blest by the positive affir- 
mation of God upon this point, and have innumer- 
able passages in the Scriptures which sufficiently 
assure us of the purpose which Christ Himself has 
toward this union. Amidst striking figures adopted 
by the Holy Ghost for setting forth this willingness 
of incarnate love, we have an interesting passage in 
Cant, iii, 11, introduced by the testimony in the pre- 
ceding verse. It refers to the act of redemption 
through the descent of the eternal Son from heaven 
to earth, who came as borne by His own constrain- 
ing love, who formed for Himself in His human na- 
ture a chariot wherein He might be brought near to 
man, and, lining it with precious material of love 
divine, fitted it to be a place of safety for His re- 



128 ' PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

deemed, wherein they should dwell, and z^^YA Him 
pass into the realms of everlasting glory. The eftect 
of this incarnate love is before us in the 11th verse, 
where the Church is invited to come forth to contem- 
plate the peculiar grace of the Saviour, and to under- 
stand the nature of this joyous event. It is repre- 
sented as a day of the gladness of the Saviour's heart, 
and this on account of the crown put upon His head 
in the day of His espousals^ answering to the pro- 
phetic voice in Isa. liii, 11, and signifying that in 
every instance wherein sinners are brought to the 
longing desire of faith and love to Him, He sees of 
the travail of His soul, He reaps the reward of His 
suffering work. He receives a crown of glory to His 
head, and He accepts the profession, in gladness, in 
satisfaction, and with an espousing grace ! Of this 
grace the Apostle speaks in writing to the Ephesians, 
V, 28-32, wherein he enlarges upon the love of 
Christ, who gave Himself ioi uo Church, expressly 
designing hereby to present it to Himself as a bride, 
and to cherish and love, and joy in it as a wife, taking 
it even into mystical union with Himself; as it is ex- 
pressed, " For we are members of his body, of his 
flesh, and of his bones." 

Thus it is evident, that the desire for union is 
mutual. On the part of Christ, according to the pur- 
pose of the everlasting covenant ; for what is de- 
clared respecting Israel as a nation is true also in 



LONGING OF THE HEART. 129 

respect of all who compose the Lamb's wife, out of 
every kindred and nation, '' Thou shaltcall me Ishi: 
and shalt call me no more Baali. And I will betroth 
thee unto me forever, yea, I will betroth thee unto 
me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving- 
kindness, and in mercies; I will even betroth thee 
unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the 
Lord." Hos. ii, 16, 19, 20. These are privileges 
secured to the Church in Christ Jesus, and are de- 
signed in order to magnify the divine perfections, all 
of which are pledged for the saints, and will be mag- 
nified in every espoused soul. On the part of the 
believer the desire after union is, as we have seen, not 
only fervent and sincere, but the fruit of the Lord's 
grace, according to what is written in Ezek. xvi, 8. 
'' ITow when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, 
behold thy time was the time of love; and I spread 
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness, yea, 
I sware unto thee and entered into a covenant with 
thee, and thou becamest mijie." In this case the word 
of salvation is applied with power ; the soul is appre- 
hended, and apprehends; and the effectual grace ot 
the Holy Ghost fulfills what is so interestingly and 
emphatically set forth in liom. vii, 1-4. According 
to this figure, so long as we are in a natural state, 
we are under the law, wedded to it as to an oppressive 
yoke, rendered grievous by reason of Us sanctity and 
our bnpotewy^ as it is written, Rom. viii, 3. It is weak 
11 



130 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

through the flesh, that is, it has not energy enough to 
insure or enforce obedience ; yet it has its inexor- 
able demands, which it is ever urging upon the con- 
science of man. It, therefore, becomes bondage, 
and oppressive in proportion to our perception of its 
true nature. So long as we are in this state, we are 
not considered in a marriageable condition to Christ. 
Wherefore that must become dead which holds us in 
bondage, that we may be free, so as legally to be 
espoused to another. Accordingly Christ, having 
in His body satisfied the law, has slain it in respect 
of its bondage character to His people. And having 
convinced us also through the law, He has slain our 
ignorant expectations, and self-righteous adherence 
to this first husband; as the Apostle expresses it, " I 
through the Law am dead to the Law, that I might 
live unto Christ." Gal. ii, 19. Thus all preparations 
for union are ready ; mutual willingness — legal 
openings — and loving liberty ! 

In the ceremony of espousal among the Jews, 
there were certain expressive forms observed by the 
parties entering into contract. A public avowal of 
the intention was made before witnesses, certain 
writings were drawn up declarative of the intention 
of marriage which" each party professed to the other, 
and usually the female received a piece of silver 
from her proposed husband as a pledge of faithful- 
ness- and truth. After this ceremony the two per- 



LONGING OF THE HEART. 131 

sons were permitted to have free intercourse, from 
which they were previously withheld. It is no doubt 
in reference to these things that the idea of espousal 
is presented to us in the Scripture, as well adapted 
to represent the spiritual interests we are now exam- 
ining, which consist of an appropriating act of 
faith, by which Christ is laid hold upon with satisfac- 
tion, and a holy persuasion of being interested in 
His love. It is in fact the privilege of assurance 
effected by the Holy G-host. This He does through 
the written word, by visible distinctions, and with 
internal holy pledges of peace and love. Thus we 
are taught by the Scriptures that the saints have an 
anointing from the Holy One, by which they are 
visibly and consciously distinguished from the world 
which lieth in wickedness, and that they carry with 
them the blessed demonstration of their heritage in 
the powerful Comforter. 1 John v, 10, 19, 20. This 
is a blissful state, answerable to the desires which 
exist in the devoted heart: and nothins^ short of this 
will give spiritual rest to a heaven born soul. It 
corresponds with the language of love we considered 
in our last subject, and presents the believer before 
us as privileged to say, ^' I am my beloved's and his 
desire is toward me." 

Although we are considering the disinterested love 
of a soul that is restless after Christ, as attracted and 
fixed by His unspeakable excellence, we do not 



132 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

wholly dismiss the idea of those attendant blessings 
which are inseparable from the life of faith, and 
which do in an abundant measure flow in with the 
assurance of love, and give additional blessedness to 
the possession. Thus it will manifestly appear, that 
having appropriated Christ, as espoused and united 
to Him, the soul will hereby obtain a great increase 
of experimental knowledge in those doctrines of grace 
which the Scriptures reveal. It is impossible tlbatwe 
should humbly appropriate the Lord, or feel His love 
shed abroad in our heart, without an attendant con- 
viction of the marvelous act by which this blessing 
has been realized, the glory of which will be 
ascribed to God alone. Hence an experimental un- 
derstanding oi election will follow, and it will be felt 
and confessed that these are mercies which can only 
be proved through God's good pleasure, who purposed 
in Himself the wonderful plan of life, and without 
any consideration of merit in the favored soul, dis- 
penses His loving-kindness. There is to such an 
one an unspeakable excellency in the testimony, that 
according to His own purpose and grace, He saved 
us; and bringing this testimony to individual expe- 
rience, there will be no room left for anything but 
glorying in the Lord, and ascribing it to His sove- 
reignty that the soul has life in Christ. Eph. i, 4-6. 

In the same disposition, the doctrine of redemption 
will be understood, not only in its freeness respect- 



LONGING OF THE HEART. 133 

ing the provision of the redemption price, but in re- 
spect of the individual application of the blessing, 
now the subject of grateful jo}^ to the soul. He 
closely connects this privilege with that of electing 
love, knows that he could not have been chosen 
consistently with God's glory, but in Christ the Be- 
loved, and lifts up his grateful expression of praise, 
saying, " Who loved me, and gave himself for me. " The 
propitiation is contemplated with its value before 
God, and its availableness in behalf of his own guilty 
soul ; and with a tenderness combined with transport 
he can exclaim, "I know that ?7?j/ Redeemer liveth." 

The consciousness of having holy affections now 
operating in his heart, leads out his spirit into en- 
larged views of the blessedness of an applied salva- 
tion: he looks upon the effects of redeeming love as 
thus exhibited with a holy joy in the omnipotence 
by which such fruits in such a heart have been 
produced; and he blesses the eternal Spirit, believ- 
ins: also that since He is the Author of this inward 
life He will also be the Finisher. He unites his 
view of sanctification with perseverance, and is as- 
sured of the faithfulness of that Lord who has begun 
the good work in him. Thus he rests in the pure 
doctrines of an everlasting covenant, and is able to 
rejoice in believing that his own name is graven 
upon the hands of the Lord, that He bears it like- 
wise upon His shoulder, and so will minister to 
11* 



134 PROGEESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

him in all things that are good, by His own covenant 
government. The sacred Scriptures assure him that 
such are the privileges of those who are one with 
Christ. And now that he lays claim to this inherit- 
ance, he must believe that all things are his. 1 Cor. 
iii, 21-23. The spiritual delights of faith are not 
limited to expectations respecting present pilgrimage. 
This heavenly grace penetrates the clouds, and rises 
into the invisible world, realizing an inheritance 
beyond all the transitory things of time, and in 
which all the weariness of probation will be closed for- 
ever. Along with the assurance of union with Christ, 
is assurance of heirship with Him. And those 
wonderful possessions which he has hitherto con- 
templated abstractedly, as interesting in themselves 
and for those who might claim them, he now believes 
to be his own, so that he can testify, " Henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me 
at that day," 2 Tim. iv, 8. This sure expectation 
is founded upon an experimental acquaintance with 
the grace oi justification ; he is united with Christ; he, 
therefore, has put on Christ, and is arrayed in His 
righteousness as a meritorious plea for the kingdom; 
and according to the covenant promise contained in 
Rev. ii, 17, he feeds on the hidden manna, and has 
" the white stone T' 
These are accorapaniments of the blessing of con- 



LONGING OF THE HEART. 135 

scious union with Clirist; thej powerful] j nurture 
the soul in peace, and are instrumental in keeping 
it consistent in its character. The believer who in 
this disposition apprehends his acceptance in the 
Lord, has motives of the most constraining ^nd per- 
suasive kind toward visible devotion, and habitual 
correspondence of spirit with his high relationship. 

If such be the blessed portion of those who are 
espoused to the Lord, should w^e not be increasingly 
stimulated to seek the conscious possession for our- 
selves, repeating the fervent supplication of love and 
desire, saying, '■'Draw meT' Cant, i, 4. Should we 
not long to experience the constraining force of 
divine grace thus operative in the heart, and ask for 
that omnipotent effect of redeeming love which 
brings the soul into this high fellowship ? ^o doubt, 
if we have spiritual affections or discernment, such 
will be our ardent desire. E^ottohave it is an affect- 
ing demonstration that there is some serious evil 
unmortified in the heart. It is evident that the 
children of God are universally described as mani- 
festing their new birth, either by breathings after, 
or rejoicings in this union ; and to differ from them 
herein argues that we are as yet unacquainted with 
their peculiar desires and delights. We have the 
Church pressing her suit and entreating, " Set me as 
a seal upon thine heart," Cant, viii, 6, 7 ; and testify- 
ing that in her heart jealousy was cruel as the grave, 



136 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

and the coals thereof were as coals of fire. She is 
importunate therefore to be kept from everything 
which might cast a suspicion upon her state. And 
in the possession of all which fervent love demands, 
and in the history of individual experience, the same 
affections will ever be developed by the saints, for 
they have no desire equal to that of being able to say, 
" My beloved is mine, and I am His." How is it 
then that we can dififer from these, and yet indulge 
the hope of inheriting their distinctions at last ? Let 
us not be deceived : it is but too palpably evident 
that in such a case we are either in a state of native 
alienation, or are living in an awfully inconsistent 
course as Christians. Let us not wickedlv take 
refuge in the idea that so much earnestness may be 
dispensed with, and yet the soul be safe. There are 
indeed among professors some who, like the daugh- 
ters of Jerusalem, are ready to reply, " What is thy 
beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost 
so charge us?" Cant, v, 9; why urge us to so much 
devotedness, such scrupulous care, such unceasing 
thoughts of things that are heavenly ! But observa- 
tions such as these would cease forever, were we 
quickened by the eternal Spirit, and, as we have 
seen, would give place to the most devoted language 
of estimation of Christ, and of the decision of saints. 
Some there are indeed among the true disciples who 
exhibit a course that gives countenance to the rea- 



LONGING OF THE HEART. 137 

soilings of the ignorant ; and if we are among 
these, the subject before us should be full of condem- 
nation and distress to the heart. Already possibly 
distress is lodged there, consequent upon the life 
of indolence, earthliness or sensual indulgence, which 
grieves the Holy Spirit, and so destroys the hope of 
assurance. This is a melancholy condition, ill becom- 
ing the bride of Christ, and quite disgraceful to such 
as by a profession of discipleship have pretensions 
to such ^n appellation ; and it is the duty of every 
such Christian seriously and determinately to seek 
deliverance from this inward and outward depres- 
sion, that God may be glorified, and their consolations 
answer to the promise. Eph. iv, 30. We are all 
persuaded that no less a standard will sufiice to sup- 
port us in a dying hour, or to give us victory in the 
conflict, such as the Christian should desire. It will 
not sufiice in that serious moment to be able only to 
hope, and merely to sa}^ that we trust He will have 
mercy. Thus to die is but a dreary mode of passing 
into the presence of the dreadful Judge, and of wait- 
ing for a sentence never to be reversed, and decid- 
ing the happiness or misery of an immortal soul. If 
then we consider it desirable to be able when dying 
to say, '^ My fiesh and my heart faileth, but God is 
the strength of my heart and my portion forever," 
Psalm Ixxiii, 26, why will we not now seek the un- 
speakable privilege, and appreciate the comfort of 



138 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

walking through our remaining days of pilgrimage 
in association with the Holy Ghost as the witness of 
our union with the Lord ? Is there anything in this 
from which a rational soul should start back? is it 
not the proper elevation of a creature endowed and 
blessed as man has been by his Creator? Come, then, 
m^ake trial of the joyous way opened in Jesus Christ, 
and experienced by those who are one with Him. 

In all instances wherein the privilege is known, 
there remains a responsibility to which the soul 
should be continually stirred up. Let such believers 
studiously cherish their distinction in the use of 
every appointed means, holding it humbly, and 
prayerfully, and joyfully in the Lord, that none such 
should seem to come short of the promise they 
inherit in Christ, but that all men may see the holy 
liberty into which Christian privilege introduces the 
soul. Heb. iv, 1 ; I^eh. viii, 10. And that we may 
also live as they who are looking for a perfection 
beyond any present possession, when, the marriage 
of the Lamb being come. His wife shall be found to 
have raiade herself ready, wearing her royal attire, 
and hailing her Bridegroom's voice. Then shall 
espousals be completed in the visible union and 
splendor and highest dignity of the Lord's redeemed. 
Rev. xix, 7. This is the proper result of a union 
which in this world is realized through faith, and in 
the approaching da}^ is to be manifested everlastinglj^ 



THE SENSE OF UNION, 139 



THE SENSE OF UE'IOIsT A ISTEW SPRI^tTG 
OF OBEDIE]^CE. 

" Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by 
the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another, even to 
him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth 
fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of 
sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring 
forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, 
that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in 
newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." — Romans 
vii, 4r-6. 

Our last two subjects have afforded us the oppor- 
tunity of looking into the privileged state of the be- 
liever when enterino^ into conscious union with 
Christ. This forms an important period in the his- 
tory of the life of faith, introducing us into many 
parts of the Christian course, which are to be con- 
sidered as resulting from this conscious privilege. 

As one of the first blessings which follow this 
stage of experience, we are evidently to consider the 
soul put in possession of a vigorous power of holi- 
ness, correspondently with the new dignity of con- 
dition and high relation which it is called to realize. 
And on this point we have some interesting particu- 
lars to examine. We do not intend that the believer 



140 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

has not exhibited, in the progress we have abeady 
contemplated, a disposition of upright obedience ; 
we have shown that under the operation of the Holy 
Ghost he has entered upon a course wherein his 
consciousness of sin has cost him godly anguish, has 
been attended with upright conflict, has produced con- 
trition and prostration of spirit, and unfeigned sur- 
render of self, with the hope of being wholly con- 
formed to the will of God; insomuch that his un- 
ceasing language is, "0 that my ways were directed 
to keep thy statutes." Ps. cxix, 5. In these traits 
of true repentance we discover many of the excellent 
acts of obedience, proceeding from the principle of 
holiness ; yet we do not perceive in them what an- 
swers to the stability of really Christian and spiritual 
elevation, such as the covenant has prepared for the 
saints, and which is only to be looked for at the 
period we are at present examining. Let our own 
observation determine this truth. It must be evident 
to ourselves, that in the time which precedes the as- 
surance of faith, we are conscious of much fluctuation 
in our feelings, and subtle workings of uncertainty, 
even in our purposes; for notwithstanding our hab- 
itual integrity, there are almost unperceived rea- 
sonings of nature in us, which interfere with the 
manifest beauty of a regular, undeviating obedience, 
producing in our course a kind of inequality in our 
steps, easily discoverable by the highly spiritual, and 



THE SENSE OF UNION. 1 '1 

sometimes discerned also by the world, which judges 
us accordingly. There is likewise very frequently 
a mixture of bondage in our disposition, demon- 
strated by somewhat of a self-righteous spirit in our 
service ; for too often we are wishing to find cause 
for complacency in what we are doing or feeling ; 
and although we have renounced our native self, we 
are seeking to rest in our sanctified state, an evil 
which we betray by being dispirited and dejected, under 
any sensible defect. 

All this, it is true, belongs to an upright disposi- 
tion, but it impedes the flow of generous obedience, 
because not wrought in liberty of spirit; and, there- 
fore, we must consider such acts rather as tokens of 
what will be, than as fruits which reach the proper 
Christian standard. They are the effect of a real 
work begun, and in some degree advanced in the 
soul; they exhibit a "Prince's daughter," whose 
feet are beautiful with shoes," see Cant, vii, 1. Or are 
" shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace," 
Eph. vi, 15. There is a readiness to tread in the 
whole way of devotion ; a sure preparation of the 
heart, which cometh from God. Prov. xvi, 1. 

That the end for which these preparations are 
given is that of an exhibition of God's grace in a 
visible character, corresponding with the relation 
now established, is evident from various passages in 
God's Word. 
12 



142 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Thus, when the Lord testifies of His grace to Zion, 
under the notion of a bride, or wife, or espoused one, 
He declares her visible and conspicuous excellency. 
And although some of these passages refer in a high 
sense to the literal Israel, and future sense of dignity 
reserved for that nation, we are not to forget that 
the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gen- 
tile being broken down, Christ has found a bride for 
Himself out of every kingdom, and nation, and peo- 
ple, and united them as one new man, or as one re- 
deemed spouse for Himself. Rev. vii, 9 ; xix, 7. We 
may, therefore, look to the divine testimony as of 
enlarged application; and although not disposed to 
rob Israel of any portion of honor, we will lay claim 
to the privilege of participating in the promises, 
which are yea, and amen, in Christ, to all the spirit- 
ual seed of Abraham. Thus led by the Spirit, we 
may proceed and examine some of those parts of 
Scripture which bear upon the subject. 

In Ezekiel xvi, 9-14, we have the history, which 
not only represents the condition of Israel, but the 
manner of God's dispensing of His kingdom to every 
individual believer. Having raised the soul from 
its spiritual death, and lifted it up from its original 
condition, it is washed and anointed; guilt and de- 
filement are cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and in 
the Spirit's power, and the sinner is set apart for 
newness of life. Following upon this, we have the 



THE SENSE OF UNION. 143 

adorned state of the bride. She is clothed and shod 
suitably to her appointment, being justified in the 
royal robe of her husband's righteousness, and pre- 
pared to follow Him with resolute conformity to His 
will. She is also " decked with ornaments.'^ These 
ornaments, no doubt, signify the several beauties of 
the new creature in Christ, and are represented by 
figures, which, in other parts of the Word, describe 
the graces of the Spirit. Thus, the hands are adorned 
or beautified by works of diligent love: the neck 
wears the golden chain, composed as it were of the 
several precepts, which, as links in a chain of love, 
adorn the faith, and prove it to be a grace that unites 
a soul to the living Head: the forehead is distin- 
guished by the jewel so peculiarly pledged to the 
Church, all her members being sealed in their fore- 
head, and having the name of their G-od visibly dis- 
played in their profession : the ears adorned with 
ear-rings, according to Pro v. xxv, 12, yielding an 
obedient attention to the voice of counsel or reproof: 
and as a completion of her beauty, her head receives 
the beautiful crown. Thus she is exhibited as queen, 
or royal spouse ; the Lamb's wife, renowned for 
beauty, through the Lord's comeliness which He has 
put upon her. What the beautiful crown is may be 
satisfactorily determined, for it is written, " The 
Lord of Hosts shall be for a crown of glory, and for 
a diadem of beauty unto the residue of His people," 



144 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Isix. xxviii, 5. It is to the Lord that the honor of 
this work is due, for He is as the anointed Saviour 
come to appoint beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for 
mourning, and the garments of praise for the spirit 
of heaviness, that He might be glorified. Isa. Ixi, 3. 
It is in this work that the bride makes her boast, wear- 
ins: her Lord as her chief joy and honor, and, assent- 
ing to the exhortation, arising to put on her beauti- 
ful attire, Isa. lii, 1, and delighting to be brought 
unto the King in this legitimate and glorious way. 
Thus she answers to what is written of her, Ps. xlv : 
she has left her father's house, and is now invested 
with privileges which make her all-glorious within, 
and her raiment of wrought gold. 

Turning to Rev. iii, 12, we meet with another 
testimony, equally declarative of the covenant design 
which respects the visible dignity of the redeemed. 
Here such as are advanced in the way, having over- 
come the obstacles in the way of the cross, and 
reached the blessed period of true fellowship with 
the Lord, have a promise that the Lord will make 
them pillars in the temple. They shall stand in the 
mystical temple, as witnesses to the Lord, monu- 
ments of divine power and love, bearing on them a 
sacred inscription which shall proclaim the glory of 
the great Redeemer. Thus it is said, " I will write 
upon him the name of my God," " And I will write 
upon him my new name :" that is, visibly demonstrate 



THE SENSE OF UNION. 145 

in each of these pillars of memorial the glory of the 
divine perfections, in the work of redeeming love. 
" The nam.e of my God^'' that is, mine in the covenant, 
which constitutes me second Adam: "I ascend to 
my God and your God." ^' My new name^'^ that is, 
my character as man's incarnate friend, deliverer, 
life. All this we know to be verified in the saints, 
for they are the property that God has redeemed 
from destruction, by a display of power, love, truth, 
justice, etc., all working honorably for man through 
the propitiation that is in Christ Jesus. In conse- 
quence, this property is called forth and marked or 
sealed^ according to the vision recorded in Ezekiel 
ix, 4, or the parable spoken by Jesus in John x, 
3, 27. 

But we may inquire how and by what means do 
the saints fulfill these figures ? how are they consti- 
tuted pillars? and how is the inscription made? We 
assuredly know that no power short of that which is 
infinite could accomplish any part of this work. And 
when we look for a hand by which we may expect to 
see the fulfillment of these hopes, it is our joy to find 
that Jehovah undertakes the gracious work. It is 
in this light that the inspired Psalmist looked upon 
his own exercise of gifts as a prophet, so that his 
tongue, whilst loosened to speak in enraptured strains 
of the Holy One, was but an instrument^ it was as *' the 
pen of a ready writer J'' Just so we may affirm in re- 
12* 



146 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

spect of this writing of memorial, not in this case 
indeed using man's faculty of speech as the instru- 
ment for making the inscription, but with the finger 
of the living Grod, and as it were dipped in the 
heart's blood of Jesus, making the indelible impres- 
sion. Short of this, n ) living inscription can be 
produced, no eiFectual impress be secured: but by 
this omnipotence, a writing is eifected, which neither 
time, nor malice, nor fraud shall ever erase. 

Behold then the 'prepared material^ even the sanc- 
tified and softened faculties and afi"ections of the be- 
liever, made ready to receive the impress. Behold 
the willing and omnipotent inscriber, even the 
eternal covenant Spirit Himself, engaged to efi'ectthe 
sacred register. And behold the inscription, even 
the holy and blessed commandment, according to 
the divine promise, " I will put my law in their in- 
ward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be 
their God, and they shall be my people." " A new 
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put 
within you, and I will take away the stony heart 
out of your fiesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you 
to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judg- 
ments:" see Jer. xxxi, 33 ; Ezek. xxxvi, 26, 27; Heb. 
viii, 10. A privilege evidently not limited to Israel, 
since the Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, has this 
conclusive passage, " Ye are manifestly declared to 



THE SENSE OF UNION. 147 

be the epistle of Christ, ministered b}^ us, written 
not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living Grod; 
not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the 
heart." 2 Cor. iii, 3. 

Thus we are led to the testimony so often referred 
to in Rom. viii, 2, 4, wherein this spiritual elevation 
and conformity to the divine law is styled "the 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." The spirit 
of life, that is, the eternal Holy Spirit, who is life, and 
who in His covenant office is the author of spiritual 
life to dead souls. John vi, 63; iii, 5. " J>?. Christ 
Jesus,^' that is, possessed by, and operative in them 
consequently upon his being Christ's in a covenant 
relation for His people, and as propitiated through 
Christ's finished work. The law of the spirit of life, 
because it is the new principle of governing power in 
all who are united to Christ, according to what has 
been shown of Rom. vii, 4, 6, being that vigorous 
and holy principle which is continually bringing 
forth fruit unto God, not in the oldness of the letter, 
but in newness of the spirit. To believers, thus pre- 
pared, united, taught, and quickened, obedience be- 
comes an existence. It is as the compliance of the 
members of the body with the volitions of the mind, 
being a law of action in the new creature, and so 
prompt, immediate, and distinctive, as the Apostle 
shows by the experience of his own soul, recorded in 
Gal. ii, 20. 



148 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

In an obedience of this description there is pecu- 
liar delight, for it is attended with a sense of jpower 
to obey, so as to raise the soul above the depression 
of fears and doubts. A privilege which is singularly 
precious when duties are arduous, and obedience 
conducts us into situations of affliction of body or 
mind. It is a sustaining thought that grace shall be 
equal to our day; that sin shall not have the domin- 
ion; that even if called to seal our witness by death^ 
*' behold we live," having an existence which no 
enemy can approach, and an eternal rest to which 
death shall introduce the soul. These are assurances 
which arise out of blessed certainty of our union 
with the Lord. There is also in this obedience a 
pure delight, arising out of sincere love of the authority 
and appreciation of the precept. And there is a pro- 
vision also for abiding peace, even in circumstances 
where this privilege must be lost, were it not for a 
persuasion that as united to Christ, no enemy can 
destroy us ; and that even in those most lamentable 
times when we groan under the influence of corrup- 
tion, or bewail our inconsistencies and shortcomings, 
w^e sfcill possess the living source of life and love, 
who will arise to our help and complete our deliver- 
ance. It is in these views that the believer exclaims, 
^'Rejoice not against me., mine enemy; when I 
f dl I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord 
shall be a light unto me." Micah vii, 8. And it is 



THE SENSE OF UNION. 149 

hence that he obtains invigorating motives, again 
and again, to contend for the prize. 

Thus it will be evident that such an one glorifies 
the Lord, by a holy consistency of principle and 
practice with his relation to Christ as his realized 
Lord and Portion; and that he is one of those 
favored souls in whom Grod's grace and name are 
magnified. G-al. i, 24. 

Let us endeavor to ascertain whether we have 
these visible distinctions ; it is of eternal moment, 
and should be considered by each of us, individually, 
as a point on which an humble solicitude should be 
exercised. By examination ot God's word respect- 
ing the experience of one who is sensibly united to 
Christ, we shall without difficulty be enabled, not 
only to determine whether we may lay claim to the 
blessing of saying, ''I am my beloved's, and his 
desire is toward me," but whether we may advance 
into the further stage of privilege also, and add, that 
the life which we now live in the flesh is by the faith 
of the Son of God. Surely we cannot complain of 
any obstacle to the discovery of our real state before 
God, when we have such multiplied testimonies so 
explanatory of the experience and disposition of the 
Lord's children. On the present occasion, for in- 
stance, we are assisted, and have only to compare 
what we have read with the course we are pursuing, 
in order to decide the question. It is an undoubted 



150 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

fact that the disciples of Jesus follow him whitherso- 
ever he goeth. Rev. xiv, 4, 5. Have we this inward 
impelling law of love ? Is it a law which is gladly 
accepted as a delightful obligation, as a service in 
which is perfect freedom, not with a tardy and re- 
luctant disposition, but a cheerful readiness to every 
counsel that we believe to be of God ? If so, we have 
a joyful manifestation of the Spirit's grace, in which 
we do well to exult, seeing that it is hereby He 
decketh us with ornaments, and supplies us with 
lasting principles unto holiness. And we shall also 
do well, as possessed of such distinctions, to stir up 
the spiritual gift that is in us. There is no other 
spring of peaceful, persevering service, but what we 
derive from union with Christ. All efforts after 
consistency made in any other way will be found 
vain. In Christ is our fruit found, Hos. xiv, 8, and 
by this oneness with Him, abundance will be produced. 
It is our duty to act in faith upon this assurance, 
coming out into a distinguished profession of the 
faith. We are to be in the world as legible epistles, 
known and read of all men, or exalted pillars, 
inviting the traveler's eye, and presenting the im- 
portant inscription of the law, as Christ's redeemed. 
We are to appear suitably attired with our dignity 
and high station, that men may perceive the exalta- 
tion to which Christ's bride is raised. This must be 
done by a conduct that is conformed to the mind of 



THE SENSE OF UNION. 151 

God, and in a spirit that is manifestly not of this 
worki. How can this be effected, but by super- 
natural existence ? How can men know this is our 
privilege, but by decided discipleship ? Let us, there- 
fore, be increasingly vigilant in separating from the 
world, and in striving to live as redeemed by the 
blood of Christ. 

If on examination of the heart we cannot discover 
these principles ; if there be no peculiarity of affec- 
tions, no visible profession, no exhibited ornaments, 
what shall we say of our miserably forlorn and des- 
titute condition ? It is impossible to conceive of a 
misery so awful and extensive as that which at this 
very moment overspreads such a soul ; " and what 
will ye do in the end thereof f ITone but the wife will 
sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb : none 
but she shout the high hallelujah which shall pro- 
claim the Bridegroom's praise : none else shall 
escape the condemnation, or be rescued from going 
down into the pit. Is it not, therefore, a fearful 
thing to trifle away the transitory moments of time, 
whilst hastening to such a tremendous eternity ? And 
should not the self-condemnation which results from 
comparing the experience of God's heritage with 
that of the wretchedly blasted soul that is still in its 
native alienation from the Lord, be sufficient to sug- 
gest the necessity of seeking the only remedy in 
Christ Jesus ? 



152 PEOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Here let us pause ; and, previously to a closer ex- 
amination of the character of the spouse, meditate 
upon what constitutes a bliss thus pure, lasting, and 
peculiar : that so we may be induced by the Spirit's 
persisting grace to bend the knee of a suppliant, and 
ask the visitations of life and mercy ! 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR HOLINESS. 153 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR 
HOLIlsTESS. 

" My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, 
to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies, I am my beloved's 
and my beloved is mine : he feedeth among the lilies." — Catstt . 
vi, 2, 3. 

We will now give our attention to the state of a 
believer's heart as cultivated, or replenished with 
the principle of holiness derived from union with 
Christ, and producing a region wherein both himself 
and the Lord find sacred delight. This is repre- 
sented to us by a variety of figures borrowed from 
natural objects, one of which we find in the testi- 
mony which the Church gives of her beloved, " My 
beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds 
of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather 
lilies : I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine ; 
he feedeth among the lilies." Cant, vi, 2, 3. Here 
the state of the Church, and the members of the 
Church, are very interestingly represented by a fruit- 
ful and fragrant garden, which, as exhibiting the 
care and skill of the great proprietor, preserves the 
idea which we stated in the last subject, namely, that 
13 



154 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

the covenant design of God is to produce in His peo- 
ple a visible dignity, consisting of visible holiness, and 
corresponding with the high relation of a redeemed 
soul to Christ as its Lord and Husband. 

In proceeding to investigate the subject, we must 
in the first place observe, that a distinction is ever 
to be kept in view as existing in the spiritual truth 
inculcated by this emblem: we must discriminate 
between the soil into which the seed is sown, and the 
seed itself. This is a very important distinction, 
which, if lost sight of, would involve some of the 
essential doctrines of the faith, and introduce a con- 
fusion into the nature of our experience. Therefore, 
it will be profitable to call up our refiections on this 
occasion into a suitable act. The soil is the heart as 
renewed by divine grace, or the faculties and affec- 
tions of man rescued from the tempter's power, and 
brought into possession of their proper owner. Thus 
we have seen in the foregoing pages, that in conver- 
sion God accomplishes His own blessed will, by 
separating the soul from the world, taking it as it 
were from the wide waste and open field, and by a 
mighty act of power setting it apart for culture : thus 
it is written, " I have chosen you out of the world," 
John XV, 19; " Ye are a chosen generation," 1 Peter 
ii. 9; " The elect's sake, whom he hath chosen/' 
Mark xiii, 20. Thus separated, we have seen how 
the property comes under God's cultivating dispen- 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR HOLINESS. 155 

sations. The fallow ground is broken up by con- 
viction and experience, and the chosen spot is hedged 
round and prepared for future produce : figures as- 
sumed with this design in Jer. iv, 3, 4; Isa. v, 2. 
It is thus that the soul is made what Jesus describes 
it, " honest and good^'' Luke viii, 15, and prepared for 
the reception of the seed. The seed that is sown, 
may be considered either as the word of God, or the 
Spirit of God, for in both instances the Scriptures 
give this appellation. Thus, in Luke viii, 11, it is 
written, " The seed is the word of God;" and in 1 
Peter i, 23, " Being born again, not of corruptible 
seed, but of incorruptible, hy the word of God." > In 
either case it is descriptive of a new existence 
wTOUght by the Holy Ghost, and imparting to the 
soil an imperishable possession. ; Of the seed, we 
must conclude it is "perfect. If it be the written 
word, it is faultless, pure, able to make us wise to 
salvation, sufficient to furnish the man of God with 
direction for every good word and w^ork, and justi- 
fying the testimony, " The law of the Lord is per- 
fect," Ps. xix, 7; " Thy word is very pure," Ps. 
cxix, 140. If it be of the Divine Spirit that the 
Scripture thus speaks, it follows of course that this 
seed is perfect, and that whatsoever is to be con- 
sidered His work in the soul must correspond 
with His own excellence, for ^'His work is perfect." 
Deut. xxxii, 4. These observations are intended 



156 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

to show that impediDients, or hindrances, to the 
true development of the plant or flower do not 
arise from any evil in the quality of the seed. Were 
this to develop itself according to its own excel- 
lency, we should hehold the gradual opening forth 
of a perfect production, and every lovely flower 
and fruit in the spiritual garden would answer to 
the goodness of the seed sown. Hindrances are, 
therefore, to he attributed to the soil, or to something 
remaining in our faculties and aifections unfriendly 
or prejudicial to the growth of heavenly plants; and 
this we readily understand, when we credit the reve- 
lation which shows that "the flesh lusteth against 
the Spirit," Gal. v, 17, or feel that there is a law in 
our members warring against the law in our minds, 
and that " the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to 
envy,"' James iv, 5. It is in consequence of these 
evils that sometimes lamentable imperfection is dis- 
coverable in the Christian productions ;\ so that even 
of these it may be said, thorns and briars growing 
up, they bring no fruit properly to perfection ; and 
are chargeable with a state which the Lord severely 
rebukes, saying, " I have not found thy works perfect,' v 
Rev. iii, 2. Hence we perceive the necessity of hav- 
ing a spirit of watchfulness, and a right understand- 
ing of the privilege of which we are now to speak, 
looking to the true result of divine culture, and for 
the proper production of a heaven-born plant. 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR HOLINESS. 157 

We will now examine some of tliose productions 
in whicli the Lord delights, and from which the be- 
liever has conscious joy. 

We may select some of the principal fruits 
which grow in the regenerate soul, and entering into 
this garden of the Lord, examine the singular beau- 
ties. Among these we behold, standing in conspicu- 
ous beauty, the precious grace of Faith. Of this 
production we are to form the highest estimate, not 
that we would give more prominent excellence to one 
holy plant than to another, as they are fruits of the 
Spirit, but that in the or(i6'r of this spiritual existence 
faith is considered as a kind of parent plant, since it 
is hereby that we instrumentally apprehend the object 
revealed in the Scriptures, and derive to the vital 
principles new vigor and sustaining supplies. It is 
introduced into the soul for the purpose of securing 
all the privileges of a chosen and consecrated state, 
and is consequently highly commended in the word. 
It is the " faith of God's elect." Titus i, 1. It is the 
faith of which Jesus is the author and finisher. Heb. 
xii, 2. It is the faith which gives evidence of things 
not seen, and substance to things hoped for. Heb. 
xi, 1. It is the faith which, being mixed with the 
word, gives invigorating energy to what we hear and 
receive. Heb. iv, 2. And in short, it is the faith 
which, as so constituted by the gracious Giver, im- 
parts a power of universal evangelical. obedience, as 
13* 



158 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

it is written, " this is the work of God, that ye believe 
on Him whom He hath sent," John vi, 29. 

Advancing further into the sacred spot, we con- 
template the wide-spreading tree, which we may dis- 
tinguish to be holy fear. It is designed to be a plant of 
health to the garden, and to extend its overshadowing 
boughs throughout. It is an absolute requisite to 
the preservation and beauty of every other produc- 
tion, and, therefore, forms a principal feature of that 
life which the covenant promises, " I will put my 
fear in their hearts," Jer. xxxii, 40 : a promise 
which is enforced as an important possession by the 
apostolic precept, " Let us have grace, whereby we 
may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly 
fear," Heb. xii, 28. Our natural propensity is to 
irreverence, as is evident not only in the bold and 
daring conduct of the licentious, but in the disposi- 
tion, deportment and language of many professed 
Christians, who walk carelessly and inconsistently, 
indulging in levity, and trespassing against the 
spirit of vigilance. As a counteraction to this evil, 
the Lord plants in His garden this salutary Fear. 

But this is no enslaving dread : the overshadowing 
boughs are not designed to shed a gloomy aspect on 
the spicy beds and flowers, but, on the contrary, to 
preserve them in legitimate liveliness, by preventing 
those evils which, if allowed, would gather into 
gloomy clouds, overspread the sky, and fall in deso- 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR HOLINESS. 159 

lating storms. - The garden of the Lord is precious 
in His sight, and He designs that it should produce 
gladdening influences to the soul. . Hence, lively hope 
forms one of its peculiar plants, and' impregnates the 
air with its reviving fragrancy. The blessed and 
enlivening effects of this heavenly grace is very 
forcibly expressed by Jer. xvii, 7, 8, ^' Blessed is the 
man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the 
Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the 
waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the 
river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her 
leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the 
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding 
fruit." 

Love will lend its pure savor to the blest abode, 
for here the holy affections of a devoted, simple heart 
are free, alert, and fervent. Of this, as belonging to 
the culture of the Lord, the Spirit expressly testifies, 
'' The fruit of the Spirit is love," Gal. v, 22. The 
love of Grod is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
Ghost. Rom. V, 5. A love which is described as 
tender, constraining, true, and, therefore, styled the 
love of espousals. Jer. ii, 2. 

To these we may add this blessed assurance, that 
as an attendant upon such dispositions there will 
ever be the sure and sacred Peace, of which the 
desert world is desolate. To this garden of the Lord 
we must look if we inquire after the manifestation of 



160 PKOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

peace, for to this sacred region it was bequeathed — 
" My peace I give unto you," John xiv, 27. A be- 
quest which belongs to the divine covenant, for it is 
one of the privileges secured to the saints thereby, 
as it is written, " Great shall be the peace of thy 
children," Isa. liv, 13 ; according to the Scripture 
account of Jesus' kingdom, which is " righteousness, 
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," Rom. xiv, 17. 

These are all requisites toward the visible de- 
velopment of the beauty which we find ascribed to 
the Church ; and with these there will always be the 
accompaniment of every other supernatural fruit 
flowing from union with Jesus, and the infusion of 
the Spirit as a law of obedience in the soul. Many 
highly interesting and practical considerations be- 
long to this covenant arrangement. 

In the first place, it is thus that the great Proprie- 
tor of the property is glorified, or crowned, in His 
espousals; for hereby the world has an exhibition 
of the covenant which it can in some degree under- 
stand. This we can readily comprehend by looking 
to the emblem before us. Who, for instance, does 
not know when, in the course of his travels, he 
passes by or comes into the vicinity of a vineyard, or 
garden, or bed of spices ? He possibly has no right 
of access, no interest in the property ; yet the fra- 
grancy is a decisive evidence that valuable plants 
are within the enclosure; yea more, he is also 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR HOLINESS. 161 

refreshed bj the sweetness, and will speak words of 
commendation of the plants. Just so will it be in 
the existence of a Christian, whose conversation and 
walk give forth the true sweetness of the heavenly 
life; there is something in it which constrains a tri- 
bute from the world, and many times produces even 
an affection of gratitude and love in those more im- 
mediately connected with him, so that in this sense 
we may say, " The wilderness and the solitary place 
shall be glad for them." Isa. xxxv, 1. 

That the Church is refreshed by such sacred plants 
within her walls will not be questioned. It is in this 
way that believers are rendered blessings to each 
other. Many times the inexperienced, the fearfal, 
or weak, are exceedingly excited, comforted and 
strengthened by the sweet savor of those plants we 
have been contemplating. And by the faith, fear, 
hope, love, and peace which yield their fragrancy 
from the inward garden in a brother's soul, they are 
quickened in the life of faith; whilst the more estab- 
lished are mutual helps and joy to each other: and 
God the Author of all is magnified in them. Eph. 
iv,16. 

Angels also draw from such regions fresh motives 
for new tributes of adoring love and praise. They 
look upon the wonderful productions which succeed 
to the baneful and unprofitable fruits of the native 
soil; and knowing from whence the change pro- 



162 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

ceeds, they lift their admiring contemplation to the 
everlasting throne, and extol their God. Thus, these 
heavenly inhabitants of the higher world are in- 
structed to His praise. Eph. iii, 10. l^or can we 
doubt that even before fallen diabolical spirits the 
Lord is glorified, when they, beholding the fair 
garden of His grace, see how their malignant designs 
are subverted, how sinners are rescued from, the ' 
curse, and how eifectual the love of Him who under- 
took man's cause has proved in these favored scenes. 
That such is the result to evil spirits seems unques- 
tionable by the record we have of Jehovah's appeal 
respecting Job. See Job. i, 8. 
- It is important to remember also that a vast pro- 
portion of individual enjoyment is connected with 
this state. There is a reward of grace which is 
reserved for the faithful even whilst they are here 
below; and this reward is said to be gathered out of 
the garden. Thus we read, in reference to this very 
point, that in the remuneration which is arranged 
respecting the productions of Christ's vineyard, He 
must have a thousand pieces of silver, and those that 
keep the fruit thereof two hundred : Cant, viii, 11, 
12; that is, the chief proprietor, who is Christ, must 
have supreme tribute, but the delegated keepers shall 
have a rich reward for their diligence. And so, 
under another figure, the same truth is affirmed, for 
the Lord, entering into his garden, and gathering His 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR HOLINESS. 163 

pleasant fruits, on which He does Himself vouchsafe 
to feed, invites his people to participate, saying, " I 
have eaten my honeycomb vv^ith my honey ; I have 
drunk my vrine v^ith my milk: eat, friends ; drink, 
yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." And corres- 
pondently it is said in Prov. xiv, 14, " A good man 
shall be satisfied from himself" A vigilant believer 
cannot but knov7 if his garden be fruitful, prosper- 
ous, productive ; knowing it to be so, he cannot but 
rejoice. It is pleasurable to him to look upon his 
thriving plants. And although his great design is 
to bring forth, abundantly for his Lord, he expe- 
riences even by this very affection, when gratified, an 
unspeakable delight of love. These are feeling's very 
beautifully set forth in some of the passages which 
we find in the book of Canticles. Thus we read the 
joyful conscious assurance of the Lord's complacent 
pleasure in His garden. " He feedeth among the 
lilies." Cant, ii, 16. " Let my beloved come into 
his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." Cant, iv, 16. 
"At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, 
which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved." Cant. 
vii,13. This is, therefore, no legal spirit of bondage, 
but the confidence of joyful liberty, conveying to the 
soul an indescribable enjoyment, into which Jesus 
the Lord graciously enters, delighting to meet and 
satisfy these fervent and pure desires. 

Thus, there is a mutual joy, a joy belonging to 



164 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

oneness of heart, of spirit, of interest. And we be- 
hold the expression of the union subsisting between 
Christ and the espoused soul, in characters altogether 
corresponding with the singular and blissful es- 
pousals. 

We should prove our own selves in every advanc- 
ing stage of experience through which we are passing 
in this investigation of the Christian's progress. 
And ere we dismiss this part of the subject, we shall 
do well to look to the soil within ourselves, and see 
whether there be anything like the productions of a 
garden of the Lord. That there is a positive neces- 
sity for the fruits, or plants, which have been speci- 
fied, will be ascertained by God's own word. It is 
written, " "Without faith it is impossible to please 
Him." Heb. xi, 6. It is proclaimed, " Know, there- 
fore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that 
thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my 
fear is not in thee." Jer. ii, 19. The wretchedly 
criminal state of a hopeless soul is affectingly re- 
corded, '' Thou saidst, there is no hope, for I have 
loved strangers, and after them will I go." That 
love is a requisite we read by the Apostle's testimony, 
that no deeds or profession will avail where this dis- 
position is not, " For in Jesus Christ neither circum- 
cision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but 
faith which worketh by love,^^ Gal. v, 6. Whilst 
in respect of peace ^ the absence thereof is proclaimed 



THE EXHIBITION OF PECULIAR HOLINESS. 165 

to be a mark of the apostate man who knows not 
God. " The way of peace have they not known." 
E-om. iii, 17. With these passages clearly before us, 
we can make no mistake, unless we willfully and 
perversely close our eyes. And it settles the judg- 
ment we ought to pass upon our own state, if we 
find not such dispositions within us. 

It is especially terrible if this barrenness remains 
in the midst of privileges and opportunities, as is not 
unfrequently the case. " The earth which drinketh 
in the rain that cometh oft upon it," and still pro- 
duces " thorns and briers" only, " is nigh unto curs- 
ing, whose end is to be burned." Heb. vi, 7, 8. And 
places favored with a gospel dispensation, that is 
abused J are hasting to the judgment which will throw 
down the fence, and give them to the beasts of the 
earth, or to the desolating curse of judicial barren- 
ness. Isa. V, 6. 

If we are blest by the more precious evidence of 
having the fruits that are here described, let us 
learn to use the distinction legitimately, diligently 
tracing it up to its glorious origin; remembering, 
that it is from Jesus our fruit is found ; gratefully 
blessing Him for that sovereign grace which sepa- 
rated us from the world, and that patient love 
which has continued to caltivate the soil, keeping 
the garden for the Lord, and ever seeking His pres- 
ence there as the joy and rejoicing of the soul ; 
14 



166 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

knowing that in this the blessedness of the inward 
Eden consists, for vain would be plants, and flowers, 
and fruits, were not our souls' Beloved with us in the 
consecrated spot. Let us be instructed bj the dili- 
gence we see expressed by many in their natural 
state, who for the purpose of adorning their dwell- 
ing, to please and gratify the objects of their affec- 
tion, spare no cost or pains. And let us emulate the 
higher expressions from higher motives in love of 
Him who died for us. If we have this disposition 
we shall know how to pluck, and eat the fruit, ac- 
cording to the privilege of love ; and our own ex- 
perience will be a blessed answer to the voice of 
Jesus' bride echoing through the sacred page ! 



KEEPING OF THE HEAET BY VIGILANCE. 167 



KEEPII^G OF THE HEART BY 
YIGILA^CE. 

"Keep thy heart with all diligence: for out of it are the issues 
of life.— Prov. iv, 23. 

Our last subjects liave exhibited the exceeding 
blessedness of the soul that is privileged by the 
grace of the eternal covenant, and that the divine 
witness, which proclaims the conspicuous and visible 
glory to which believers are ordained, is no vain 
and empty testimony. The word of the Lord is true ; 
and the people of the Lord are visibly distinguished : 
and blessed be His name, the favored regions conse- 
crated by His sovereign grace are rendered fruitful 
in holiness, so that they properly answer to the em- 
blem of the well-cultivated earth, and are, in a spirit- 
ual sense, the gardens of the Lord. 

We must not, however, whilst contemplating the 
privileges of the believer, lose sight of that state of 
exposure, and trial, which attend him^ during his 
continuance in this world: so long as he is in the 
world, he will find himself encompassed by foes, 
and his distinctions will not exempt him from the 
necessity of living in vigilance. This is manifestly 



168 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

a part of the Christian existence : and the ^Qvj men- 
tion of his peculiar heritage, as precious and chosen 
by the Lord, at once conveys to us the notion that 
he lies exposed to peril from those quarters whence 
the enemies of the Lord proceed. We have con- 
sidered the believer as chosen and separated from 
the midst of the waste and wilderness world, for the 
purpose of becoming a beautiful Eden, wherein God 
might delight, and we believe him to be like a walled 
garden enclosed on every side. But he is still, 
although not of the world, in the world. He is in it, 
not merely exhibiting the contrast between what is 
waste and desolate with what is cultivated and fruit- 
ful, but as exposed to certain evils arising from the 
inhabitants of the desert from which he has been 
separated. Our blessed Lord has many infinitely 
wise reasons for allowing His heritage to be a while 
in these circumstances : but He does Himself declare 
them to be perilous and trying. Thus in His inter- 
cessory prayer for His disciples, when He was about 
to leave them, we hear Him expressing His holy 
solicitude in their behalf, And now. Father, '' I come 
to thee ;" ^' but these are in the world, and I come 
to thee." ".Whilst I was with them in the world" 
I kept them. " Holy Father, keep through thine 
own name those whom thou hast given me." " I 
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the 
world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the 



KEEPING OF THE HEART BY VIGILANCE. 169 

evil." See John xvii, 11, 15. The cause of the 
evil, of which He speaks, He testifies to His disciples, 
"Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen 
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth 
you." John xv, 19. And thus He seals His witness 
of their inheritance here below, saying, " In the 
world ye shall have tribulation." John xvi, 33. 

The nature of those evils which are thus foretold 
will be readily comprehended, if we enter into the 
Scripture account of the world, which, being de- 
scribed as a wilderness, or forest, or desert, is, ac- 
cording to these images, held forth as containing in- 
habitants which agree with the place of their abode. 
These are said to be wild beasts. Thus when Daniel 
had his vision from the Almighty, showing him what 
monarchies and kingdoms would arise in the world, 
he sees them represented by the lion, the leopard, 
and the bear. Dan. vii, 17. When Peter received 
the heavenly revelation respecting the ingathering 
of the Grentiles, he beheld them under the emblem 
of wild beasts, and four-footed beasts of the earth, 
and all manner of creeping things. Acts x, 12. Jude 
also describes all natural men as following a bestial 
instinct : " What they know naturally, as brute 
beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves," 
Jude 10. Peter adopts the same figures, showing 
that men who follow their own perverse ways and 
delusions are like those brute beasts that are made 
14* 



170 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

to be taken and destroyed; that is, savage, fierce, 
hurtful ; and that they will perish in their own de- 
ceiving. 2 Pet. ii, 12. And Paul, when speaking 
of his own conflicting life as a witness for the truth, 
has this remarkable expression, " If after the manner 
of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus.'^ 1 
Cor. XV, 32. 

But general terms do not sufi3.ce the Holy Spirit, 
when showing this awful state of nature. He there- 
fore assumes such as are particular : and when de- 
scribing the spirit of the wicked against the pros- 
perity of the Church, he gives them appellations 
taken from the different descriptions of injurious 
animals, and adapted to the special demonstration of 
enmity to be expected from each. Thus in Psalm 
Ixxx, 13, they are described as the wild hoar out of 
the forest : in Psalm x, 9, as the lion lurking in his 
den, and watching to devour : in Luke x, 3, as raven- 
ing wolves, among whom the lambs are sent forth : 
in Psalm Ixiii, 10, as destroying foxes, who will be 
executioners of vengeance : in Isaiah xlvi, 11, as a 
ravenous bird called from the east, to do God's vin- 
dictive work. These are also under the government 
and instigation of the great apostate, Satan, who is 
in his usurpations styled the prince of this world ; 
the prince of the power of the air ; and who ranges 
the wilderness world, seeking for his prey. 1 Peter 
v,8. 



KEEPING OF THE HEART BY VIGILANCE. 171 

In these appellations, as given to the inhabitants of 
the world, we have awful and solid truths conveyed 
to the mind ; and they are all assumed by our hea- 
venly Teacher expressly for our instruction, and to 
awaken the saints to understand the nature of their 
perils, and the spirit of watchfulness which is conse- 
quently required. 

Let us now call to our recollection the lovely spot 
wherein the fruits, flowers, and plants of the Lord 
are found; for it is against these that the inhabitants 
of the world are confederate. We must, therefore, • 
expect that attempts will be made correspondently 
with the character of the adversary, to introduce 
desolation into the garden, or to prevail in impeding 
the growth, or marring the beauty of the plants. 
Much instruction on this point may be obtained by 
considering these several beasts of prey, in connec- 
tion with the nature of the assault they are described 
as making. Thus of the wild boar, it is said that 
his object is to root up or lay waste the vine. This 
has a special application to the nation of Israel, and 
is well known to describe the suffering lot of this 
ancient people, as open to the inroads of savage, bar- 
barous, infidel, and oppressive men, who from time 
to time have desolated this vine. The once beautiful 
plant, whose boughs spread wide around, affording 
blessings to the earth in which it had been planted, 
is now withered and blasted, a melancholy spectacle 



172 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

in the world. Nevertheless, the Lord is magnified 
hereby, for persecutors were instruments of his dis- 
pleasure. We, however, have to look to the disposi- 
tion of this enemy, for it shadows forth what still 
abideth in the breasts of men against the vine, 
wherever it may be : and the Christian garden lies 
exposed to the hatred and desolating designs of the 
persecutors, equally with Israel of old. This will be 
determined by the history of the Church in all 
generations. 

The design of the ravening wolf is the same, but 
it is expressed more subtil ely. Instead of visibly 
ferocious passions, it assumes the form of friendly 
feeling, and is described by our Lord, They " come 
to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are 
ravening wolves." Matt, vii, 15. So Paul forewarns 
the Ephesians, that after his departure, there would 
arise from among themselves grievous wolves, not 
sparing the fiock. Acts xx, 29. This description 
of enemy clearly represents false teachers, found- 
ers of heresy, men seeking the gains to be obtained 
through the nainistry, and sacrificing every sacred 
truth for the end of private advantage. 

The cunning fox may appear in the first instance 
to answer exactly to the wolf, yet there appears to 
be a distinction : and the prayer of the Church, 
along with the rebuke given to Israel, may serve to 
expound the Spirit's meaning. See Cant, ii, 15, 



KEEPING OF THE HEART BY VIGILANCE. 173 

^' Take us the little foxes, wliicli spoil the vines, for 
our vines have tender grapes :" and Ezek. xiii, 4, 5. 
" Israel, th}^ prophets are like the foxes in the 
deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither 
made up the hedge." These words convey the idea of 
those less discernible evils which are found to militate 
against the health of the soul, when perhaps little 
observed or feared ; and it seems by the context in 
Ezekiel to intend such teachers as speak a vision out 
of their own imagination, and say Peace, when there 
is no peace. Such are the ministers, or professing 
Christians, who propose a scheme of mere morals, 
a system of philosophy, from the reasoning of the 
natural mind, instead of the strong foundation and 
beautiful superstructure of the true faith. 

The ravenous birds of the air are an apt figure of 
the innumerable evils which arise in common life 
from the men of this world, in their various char- 
acters and baneful influences, by which they do, as it 
were, frequently seem to crop the tender twig, or 
mar or carry off the precious fruit which we desire to 
behold on every plant within the sacred enclosure. 

And awful indeed it is to know, that all these are 
not only instigated by their own determined enmity 
to truth, but that they are likewise moved by the 
diabolical and restless foe to God and man ; for he 
is the spirit that now worketh in the children of 
disobedience. Eph. ii, 2. 



174 PEOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

But these are not the only perils which attend the 
garden of the Lord : it is not merely from foes that, 
comparatively speaking, we may call outward, that 
the precious plants are threatened. Let us call to 
mind what has been stated respecting the nature of 
the soil of which this garden is composed ; recollect- 
ing that from this inward region such things may 
be produced as will obstruct and injure its proper 
productions. The natural heart is prolific of every 
evil. The corruption of our nature is still alive 
within us. And on this account the Apostle earnestly 
exhorts believers, saying, " Looking diligently, lest 
any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of 
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby 
many be defiled." Heb. xii, 15. We cannot have 
any experience^ or any observation of the state of 
others, without feeling an immediate conviction that 
this is requisite. Painfully do we know that the 
bosom is liable to many sad interruptions to its visi- 
ble health and beauty, by reason of the weeds of 
indolence, presumption, earthliness, creature feeling. 
These are abominations springing up from the 
heart, and if allowed or unperceived, will shed a 
baneful influence, and even in the Lord's garden 
prevent the perfection of those plants which we are 
bound to cultivate. It is true that the life is imper- 
ishable, and the heart still alive to God ; but, as the 
Bride expresses it, there may yet be an induced state 



KEEPING OF THE HEART BY VIGILANCE. 175 

of sleep that is highly criminal : it is inconsistent, it 
gives opportunity for other enemies to advance. 
It is a grief to the Holy Ghost, and is severely 
chastened by the Lord : see Eph. iv, 30. 

We should be aware of the design of our enemy, 
and of the tendency of indwelling sin. And whilst 
reflecting upon the several foes against which we 
have to guard, recollect also that every assault is 
made against those plants^ which in our former chapter 
we examined in the garden. It is faith, and fear, 
and hope, and love, and peace, that are attempted. 
The violence or fraud of the enemy is directed with 
an aim to overturn our profession, and either by ter- 
rors or deception to remove us from the Foundation 
in whom we are rooted. And we fl.nd experiment- 
ally that by these perils our simplicity or our de- 
pendence, our expectation, or our fervor, are im- 
paired, unless we promptly detect and resolutely 
resist the assailants ; and unquestionably whenever 
these affections are depressed, our jpeace is propor- 
tionably so, and in some unhappy instances it is 
allowed, as a chastisement to us for our negligence, 
to exhibit the appearance of a leafless trunk. 

Spiritual discernment in these particulars will 
prove exceedingly beneficial to the Christian, and 
will enforce the precept so mercifully given, '' Keep 
thy heart with all diligence." There is a responsi- 
bility laid upon every individual believer to look 



176 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

well to his own soul, and diligently to tend tlie 
plants : we should discharge this obligation by reso- 
lute warfare, so as to resist the ravenous beasts which 
come against the garden ; and by incessant attention 
to the soil, so as to destroy and root up every weed as 
it may appear : and by perpetual attention to the 
plants themselves, which require the ministration of 
those means for their vigor which the Lord has 
ordained. Thus, for example, the grace of faith 
must be nurtured by the blessed testimony through 
which it was first begotten. If we would maintain 
this disposition in its vigorous character, we must 
study the word, lay up sound doctrine, acquaint 
ourselves with the revelation of promise and precept, 
praying for divine illumination and establishment, 
and thus possessing a clear, impartial, and compre- 
hensive view of the glorious truths faith is ordained 
to embrace. If we would further holy fear, we must 
have recourse to the divine manifestations by which 
the name of Jehovah is revealed, meditating upon 
our God in His infinite justice, truth, power, Jove, 
and especially as exhibited in Christ : the way of salva- 
tion must be frequently contemplated as a manifesta- 
tion of the exceeding glory of God, and the holiness 
of His nature and laws, that thus we may be deterred 
from trifling, presumption, or negligence in our pro- 
fession, and possess this grace of fear in all its 
friendly influence. Our hope must be continually 



KEEPING OF THE HEART BY VIGILANCE. 177 

fed and excited by retrospects of the past, calling to 
mind what the Lord Ifas already done for our soul, 
His patient forbearance. His free and willing mercy, 
His innumerable acts of delivering, preserving grace. 
His answers and prayer, and all His ways of niJttch- 
less goodness, on which we have lived up to this 
hour; hereby hope will make vigorous shoots, it 
will exhibit its lively character, it will be enabled to 
triumph over the despondency of nature, or the as- 
saults of subtle foes ; and gathering confidence from 
God's past deeds, it will gratefully trust for, and an- 
ticipate blessings to come. Love will receive a suit- 
able nourishment by meditations such as the believer 
deliofhts to en2:ao:e in. And if we are livins: answer- 
ably to our privilege, we shall cherish this blessed 
plant, by frequenting in spirit those scenes where 
Jesus, our soul's Beloved, displayed His love to us. 
Thus we shall look to the time when as a Babe in 
Bethlehem He entered upon the wild world, and 
came to encounter the beasts of prey for our sakes. 
We shall follow Him through His ministry of 
grace to the miserable, go with Him to the scene 
of agony in the garden, follow Him to the 
dying hour on Calvary, wait by the sacred tomb and 
see Him slumber there, follow to the heights of 
glory and behold Him reigning on the throne. And 
with all these objects before the mind and heart in 
their attractive force, we shall endeavor to combine 
15 



178 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

the heart-conquering assurance — All this He did for 
me ! Love so indulged and nurtured will give forth 
its lovely fruits, and taking large possession of the 
soil within, will be demonstrated as the vigorous 
work of God. Peace will be sweetly cherished in 
connection with all these, but we must give it special 
care, and with a diligent eye look well to its roots, 
see that there be no inconsistency, clear it of the 
choking weeds of earthliness, see that no evil pro- 
duce of the soil, such as self -dependence, twine around 
its roots ; and with prayerful appropriation of the 
Lord, seek to preserve it a clean and healthy plant. 

These are Scripturally prescribed methods for the 
culture of the garden, and belong to that part of the 
responsibility, to keep the property, which devolves 
upon the believer. It is very true, that unless the 
Lord is our keeper, we watch in vain, and this re- 
sponsibility is indeed His, equally as ours ; for He 
has condescended to have equal interest in the pro- 
perty, and to pledge Himself to this work, as we 
shall show in our next subject. But on this occa- 
sion we have to direct our particular inquiry into 
our own duties, as constituted by Him responsible 
for the keeping of the garden. We will, therefore, 
here suspend our inquiry, and turn our thought upon 
the several particulars which this investigation has 
brought before us. Blessed is the covenant promise 
which meets us in the sacred record, engaging for 



KEEPING OF THE HEART BY VIGILANCE. 179 

faithful blessings to come down, upon us, ^' Thou 
shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of 
water whose waters fail not." Isa. Iviii, 11. "J^o 
lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go 
up thereon." Isa. xxxv, 9. These are faithful say- 
ings, proving that on the part of our God every pro- 
vision has been abundantly made for our encourage- 
ment. And that unless we move Him to displea- 
sure, and induce the correction which such enemies 
may inflict, we have nothing to dread, notwithstand- 
ing we are in the world ! Our precious plants shall 
live amidst the desert's howling blasts, and shed 
their fragrancy around, superior to every baneful 
weed that would impede their health. 



180 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



KEEPIISTG OF THE HEART BY COVE- 
I^TANT PROTECTIOIsr. 

"I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any 
hurt it, I will keep it night and day." — Isaiah xxvii, 3. 

We re-enter tlie spiritual garden which we have 
lately contemplated, that we may on the present oc- 
casion direct our further attention to the sources 
whence its safety stands secure, this being an interest 
of too much importance to be left without satisfac- 
tory conclusions on which the soul may repose. The 
individual responsibility of the believer, to watch 
and keep the sacred region, has been sufficiently in- 
sisted upon. But experience will demonstrate, that 
unless there be a more sure defence than any which 
can arise out of our own vigilance, fear and appre- 
hension must still prevail ; and that, in fact, '^ except 
the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in 
vain." Ps. cxxvii, 1. We, therefore, proceed to con- 
sider, as a point of interest standing in close connec- 
tion with the Christian experience, on what ground 
we may rest assured that our garden shall be de- 
fended from the foe, and the precious plants of grace 
be nurtured to perfection in our souls. 



KEEPING OF THE HEART. 181 

That a firm foundation for this confidence exists 
will no doubt be credited by all who profess to be- 
lieve in the omniscience and power of Almighty 
God ; and the disciples of Jesus will turn the eye of 
faith on Him as demonstrating this infinite grace in 
covenant love. But it is requisite to give Him glory 
by understanding the manner in which this merciful 
regard is directed toward the saints ; and much of 
our own stability in peace is involved in so doing. 
We are not kept by a mere act of power, or mercy, 
or even of love considered abstractedly from the 
relation we bear to Christ. It is as -property possessed 
by Him that we are the subjects of such perpetual 
preservation, a consideration which places our safety 
on very peculiar ground. In this light we behold 
the Lord Jesus as having a responsibility, and as in- 
dividually interested to discharge it faithfully ; His 
own possession and honor being concerned in the 
safety, beauty, and fruitfulness of His chosen heri- 
tage. Thus whilst we, as believers, are exhorted to 
glorify Him by correspondent devotion to His name, 
He also is pledged to glorify Himself by accomplish- 
ing in us all those fruits which are by Him, to the 
praise of the eternal ^ame. And thus we read, in 
John xvii, 12, an acknowledgment of the responsi- 
bility, and a holy sense of faithfulness therein, " Those 
that thou hast given me, I have kept, and none of 
them is lost." We are consequently to consider that 
15* 



182 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

Christ Jesus stands interested in the work of keep- 
ing His saints, hereby designing to give proof of His 
Messiahship, of His victory over Satan, and of His 
truth in the privileges which He has engaged to he- 
stow on His people. See John xii, 30, 31 : Jude 
20 ; 2 Thess. iii, 3. 

We have likewise express and solemn promises 
which the Lord has voluntarily and abundantly 
given for the consolation of His people in this re- 
spect. ]^one can be more comprehensive than that 
which we find in Isaiah xxvii, 3 : " I the Lord do 
keep it ; I will water it every moment : lest any hurt 
it, I will keep it night and day." Parallel with 
which, we read in Jer. xxxi, 12 : " Their soul shall 
be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow 
any more at all." And in Cant, iv, 12, the privilege 
is again before us under the figure of a garden en- 
closed, and a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed : 
this is (according to the well-known custom in 
countries where springs of water are among the 
rarest and most precious possessions afibrded to man) 
an interesting allusion to royal prerogative, which 
was used to shut up, seal, and secure fountains, etc., 
for royal service. Thus Christ's beloved one is as a 
garden well supplied, and her springs and fructifying 
waters are beyond the reach of any exhausting 
power. There is a promise in Rev. iii, 10, which 
gives equal assurance of divine protection — '' Be- 



KEEPING OF THE HEART. 183 

cause thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also 
will keep thee from the hour of temptation." And 
again, " They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither 
shall the heat nor sun smite them," Isaiah xlix, 10; 
agreeably to the blessed testimony so exhilarating to 
the saints, " He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; 
he that keepeth thee will not slumber. The Lord is 
thy keeper." Psalm cxxi, 3-5. These are engage- 
ments which lay a solid foundation in Christ Jesus 
for the expectation of faith, and on which that blessed 
engagement is everlastingly established, " 'No wea- 
pon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and 
every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment 
thou shalt condemn ; this is the heritage of the ser- 
vants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, 
saith the Lord." Isaiah liv, 17. 

We will now inquire into the manner in which 
the Lord discharges his responsibility, as put in con- 
nection with the view we have already taken of the 
circumstances of the Lord's people, or of His favored 
garden. Let us call to mind what has been shown 
of the nature of the world in the midst of which this 
hallowed spot is placed ; let us bear in our recollec- 
tion that it is represented as a waste wilderness, and 
as inhabited by wild beasts of ^vej ; and that the 
different descriptions of human and diabolical enmity 
against the saints are said to correspond with the 
various propensities of the savage tribe. This will 



184 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

remind us of the nature of our danger as exposed to 
such assailants, and will open the way for contem- 
plating the grace of the covenant in providing a 
Keeper, who will suitably address His defence to the 
particular evil which may call for His interposition. 
The wild boar out of the forest, seeking to lay 
waste or root up the vine, Psalm Ixxx, 13, represent- 
ing the fury of the prosecutor, shall meet a mighty 
and invincible opposer in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
As it respects the literal Israel, we have the direct 
promise of the covenant, that Jehovah will cause 
them that come of Jacob to take root. Israel shall 
blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with 
fruit ; and the vine now desolated by furious op- 
pressors, who are accomplishing the Lord's righteous 
judgments upon the people, will ere long stretch out 
her luxuriant branches and bear the wholesome fruit. 
Isaiah xxvii, 6. 

In the Christian Church the omnipotent defence 
of the Lord has been ever displayed ; although trials 
and desolating oppressions have arisen against her, 
she lives to the praise of her heavenly Keeper ! The 
fury of the prosecutor has served to enlarge her 
borders, the stormy wind and tempest have but scat- 
tered the seed ; the precious plants have thus been 
increased, taking root in lands where they have be- 
come nurturing means of advancing the cause ; and 
in this respect the testimony of old has been again 



KEEPING OF THE HEART. 185 

fulfilled, "the more they afilicted them, the more 
they multiplied and grew." Ex. i, 12. This is equally 
true of every individual believer. These private gar- 
dens of the Lord are the objects of His complacent re- 
gard ; and He who has introduced the supernatural 
plants therein will assuredly preserve them. Our own 
experience may be appealed to in confirmation of 
this. Let us look to the days of persecution we have 
sufi^ered : let us examine the effects produced by 
calumny, scorn, resistance, etc., and say if they have 
not been salutary, tending to confound the enemy, 
and to satisfy us that no wild beast shall be permit- 
ted to do us harm. The secret purposes of our Lord 
shall be accomplished even through the fierceness 
of man : and the blessed dispositions of heavenl}'- 
mindedness, simplicity, and faith, be strengthened 
within us by the means of persecution. This is 
evident from history, experience, and the divine 
record. Psalm cxl, 4-7 ; xii, 4-7. 

The ravening wolf, representative of the false 
teachers who come in sheep's clothing, shall meet 
the same overthrow. I^ever let us forget the blessed 
testimony which our Lord has given respecting this 
evil, that although they shall come in subtlety, so 
that, were it possible, they would deceive the very 
elect, they shall never prevail. Matt, xxiv, 23-26. 
]^ever let us lose sio:ht of the truth that even these 
attempts are in the overruling hand of the Lord ; 



186 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

* 

and that, so far from proving injurious to the gar- 
den, they shall promote its health. Is it not written, 
*' There must be also heresies among you, that they 
which are approved may be made manifest" ? 1 Cor. 
xi, 19. Is not this sufficient to assure us of benefit 
through the subtle attempts of the heresiarch ? and 
will not our judgment confirm our expectations ? 
What has given occasion for the many powerful 
statements of truth ? what has called out the many 
able contenders for the faith once delivered to the 
saints ? and to what are we indebted for many of 
our own clear and established perceptions into truth? 
Have not the efforts of false teachers, the introduc- 
tion of false tenets, and the apparent exposure of 
the Church, been made instrumental to these bless- 
ings ? Yes, assuredly, in this sense we owe them 
much. But our debt is due to Him, who by His 
faithfulness and wisdom thus preserves His heritage, 
and, in His mighty operation upon their souls, 
makes them to " try the spirits, whether they are of 
God," 1 John iv, 1 ; and commends them for so 
doing: "Thou hast tried them which say they are 
apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." 
Eev. ii, 2. 

The crafty fox shall not prevail : even those more 
unobserved evils which, on account of their apparent 
harmlessness, are less suspected or feared, shall be 
disclosed and detected, so as to awaken the soul to 



KEEPING OF THE HEART. 187 

its true life and demonstrate Jesus' care. This is 
effected bj that blessed gift from the Holy Ghost, 
which we may in this subordinate sense distinguish 
by " discerning of spirits," possessed by the Apostle 
in its highest intention, but perpetuated to the 
Church in her members so far as belongs to spiritual 
apprehension of what is truth. We may call it an 
instinciive perception; for we discover it in instances 
where there is little ability to argue, little mental 
energy by which to detect what is false, and little 
capacity to discriminate by orderly discussion. It 
answers to what our Lord declares of His sheep, ^' A 
stranger will they not follow," " for they know not 
the voice of strangers." John x, 5. An unction 
from the Holy One rests upon them ; they experi- 
mentally know Him that is true, and they are in 
Him that is true ; hence they possess a certain spirit- 
ual appetite, by which they feed on wholesome food 
as palatable^ but instinctively turn from and reject 
Avhat is spurious. 1 John ii, 18-20 ; v, 20. 

These are accompaniments of Jesus' watchful dis- 
charge of His own responsibility, and He will, in 
this character and office to His Church, preserve all 
her members, defend all His own property, repel 
every beast of prey, and break the teeth of the young 
lions. Psalm Iviii, 6 ; Rom. xvi, 20. 

That Christ is equally engaged by relation and 
promise to protect His garden from every noxious 



188 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

weed, and to promote the plants of grace by every 
act of fostering care or discipline, is a covenant truth 
established on the same ground. His purpose is to 
extend His interposing presence to every necessity. 
It is not against this or that particular enemy that He 
promises to defend; but, " Lest a?ij/ hurt it, I will 
keep it night and day. '^ Isaiah xxvii, 3. Therefore, 
we are enlivened by the assurance that none of those 
evils which spring up from the soil, or belong more 
peculiarly to the interior of the garden, shall be 
allowed to prevail. For this end He adopts the 
means of discipline, for it is thus that weeds are 
killed, or checked in their growth. Thus He makes 
use of the experience which we obtain in conflict, for 
the purpose of delivering us from the native ten- 
dency to indolence, presumption and independence ; 
and, by disappointments and mortifications in the 
creature, directs an antidote to those earthly affec- 
tions, which are like the weeds that entwine around 
and injure the precious flowers which adorn our 
garden. How powerfully has our heavenly Keeper 
shown us this His method of grace toward those 
whom He is preparing for glory. Have we not ex- 
perienced the operation and found the need and the 
efiicacy of such discipline ? After some progress in 
the heavenly life, we usually become acquainted with 
the necessity that exists for vigor and abasement, 
through the various and painful ways which cause 



KEEPING OF THE HEART. 189 

US to feel and bewail our utter impotency. And 
who among us does not know that, in order to cure 
us of creaturely affections and adherence to earth, 
there is found a positive need of the most painful 
experience of human instability and insufficiency ? 
These exercises, however, would not minister death 
to the w^eeds, neither would they produce any benefit 
to the plants, were not the divine power of the Lord 
in the midst of the conflict, and His covenant design 
to bless directed to this end. He, therefore, is the 
Keeper, and by Him the soul is cleansed, and the 
plants preserved. There is likewise a requisite at- 
tention to be given to the plants themselves. These, 
however pure and perfect in the seed or principle, 
are not so in d(welop7nent, but as they progressively 
advance to their state of maturity. There is a need 
to train, to prune, and to minister to them, as our 
Lord declares, " Every branch that beareth fruit. He 
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." John 
XV, 2. It is the part of the heavenly Planter thus to 
advance the health of the trees, and to pour forth 
invigorating operations upon faith, and fear, and 
hope, and love, and peace, and every grace. This 
is expressed in the Scriptures by the language of the 
saints, who, as taught of Grod, utter their fervent 
dependence upon the Saviour for the advanceraient 
of their sacred life. Thus it is the ardent desire of 
•he disciples, " Lord, increase our faith !" It is the 
16 



190 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

supplication of the Psalmist, '' Keep back thy servant 
also from presumptuous sins." Psalm xix, 13. The 
confidence of the believer is, that his hope is made 
to abound by the Holy Ghost, that for his love he has 
an inexhaustible source, since all his fresh springs 
are in the Lord, and that it is He who will keep the 
soul in perfect peace when it is stayed upon Him ! 
Thus the inward work of grace corresponds in its 
expression with the relation Christ bears to His 
people, and gives a further attestation of the blessed 
truth that He is our Keeper. 

The garden of the Lord must also be visited with 
such supplies as answer to the need of herbage, 
flowers, and fruits. These we know must receive 
showers and dews, winds and zephyrs, light and 
sunbeams, and shade ; since to this combination 
they owe their color, fragrancy, freshness, and all 
the variety of loveliness which renders them an 
ornament to the earth, and a blessing to man. Just 
thus it must be within the spiritual garden we now 
contemplate. And behold the plenteous supply : 
" He shall come down like rain upon the mown 
grass." Psalm Ixxii, 6. '^ I will be as the dew unto 
Israel." Hos. xiv, 5. "I will pour water upon 
Him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." 
Isa. xliv, 3. It " shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life." John iv, 14. 
"Awake, north wind; and come, thou south; blow 



KEEPING OF THE HEART. 191 

upon mj garden, that the spices thereof may flow 
out." '' I am come into my garden." Cant, iv, 16 ; 
V, 1. " I am come a light into the world." John 
xii, 46. He shall rise " the Sun of Righteousness." 
Mai. iv, 2. " Tlie Lord will create upon every dwell- 
ing place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a 
cloud." " There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow 
in the daytime from the heat." Isa. iv, 5, 6. Agree- 
ing with the exalting testimony, " The Lord is thy 
shade upon thy right hand : the sun shall not smite 
thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord 
shall preserve thee from all evil : He shall preserve 
thy soul." Psalm cxxi, 5-7. 

These are the results of that covenant keeping 
which, belongs to the Lord's inheritance. His garden, 
His property! On this blissful privilege our faith 
should vigorously lay hold, believing that it shall be 
ours in Christ Jesus. The dispensation is extended 
to us variously ; sometimes immediately from Himself, 
by visits that gladden and assure the soul, and at 
other times through the instituted means by which 
He promises refreshment to His people. One visit 
from Jesus, set home by the Holy G-host to the affec- 
tions of the heart, contains in it every part of the 
blissful provisions, for He is in Himself the rain, the 
dew, etc., and where He dwells in manifestation of 
the soul, there will be bloom and beauty within. 
But in the means of grace we find the sure refresh- 



192 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

ment also, according to the promise, for it is Jesus^ 
word, which comes down like the rain. Isa. Iv, 10. 
It is His doctrine that distills like the dew. Deut. 
xxxii, 2. And although Paul may plant and Apollos 
may water, it is God that giveth the increase. 1 Cor. 
iii, 6. 

Our part should be to seek the blessed union of 
all the privileged states of the believer, which has 
been the subject of investigation in the last few por- 
tions, that we may by the Spirit's witness find our- 
selves numbered with gardens of the Lord, and as 
such, beautified by the rich variety of supernatural 
productions which adorn these His dwelling places ; 
that, as conscious of our responsibility, we keep the 
garden, watching thereunto with all perseverance ; 
and that, as sensible of our own insufficiency, we 
look with simple affiance to Him who is the omnipo- 
tent and faithful defence of His own work. In this 
spirit we should be enabled to apprehend the divine 
word as our own, and know ourselves to be inter- 
ested in its testimony, " Blessed is the man that 
trusteth in him." Ps. xxxiv, 8. " He shall be like 
a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth 
forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not 
wither." Psalm i, 3. And with responsive praise 
we shall speak His glory ; and notwithstanding that 
we are encompassed by enemies, our boast shall be, 
" Blessed be the Lord, my strength, which teacheth 



KEEPING OF "THE HEART. 103 

my hands to war and my fingers to fight." Psalm 
cxliv, 1. Enemies shall fall backward from our 
souls, as confounded by our Lord. And beauteous 
plants shall thrive and decorate our souls as habita- 
tions for our God. 



16* 



194 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE REST OF THE HEART IIST A:N" 
ALL-SUFFICIEi^T LORD. 

" And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep 
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. — Philippians iv, 7. 

In connection with that favored experience of the 
believer, to which we have been conducted in our 
late course of subjects, there stands a point of great 
and interesting moment which it is our part to con- 
sider, as intimately belonging to a ripening and 
matured degree of faith. We have seen how, by a 
conscious union with Christ, the soul is introduced 
into a state of visible beauty, comparable to a lovely 
and well- cultivated garden ; and that the precious 
productions of the Holy Spirit are not only the sub- 
jec.ts of faithful vigilance on the part of a Christian, 
but of divine pi'eservation on the part of the Saviour. 
But high and excellent as is this blessed condition, 
it does not insure the positive possession of a state 
of conscious bliss : and as it is the privilege of the 
believer to enter fnlly into what we may style blissful 
enjoyment in the Lord, we should direct our attention 
to this part of experience. 

Reflection will convince us that spiritual enjoy- 



THE REST OF THE HEART. 195 

nient does not consist merely of spiritual increase. 
There may be visibly to the eye of beholders a 
beautiftd consistency of character exhibited by the 
Christian, whilst the individual's soul is far from 
being in a joyous state. We have many examples 
recorcled in the Scriptures of eminent saints, who, 
notwithstanding their holy and suffering course in 
following the Lord, have uttered the language of 
complaint, mourning, and woe ! Similar instances 
occur under our immediate observation, serving to 
convince us, that even where there is no apparent 
provocation or inconsistency in the life, there is the 
absence of high or habitual rejoicing. ^N'either does 
this arise from any secret inconsistency. The be- 
liever may possess the clearest witness in himself 
of an upright mind ; he is unconscious of any allowed 
provocation ; whatever he discovers to be displeas- 
ing to his Lord, he promptly resists ; and in what- 
ever instance he perceives a requirement in which 
God's mind is to be fulfilled, he immediately presses 
toward the mark. If He seems to say, make a sacri- 
fice, the sacrifice is made. If He say, embrace 
a responsibility, the responsibility is embraced. 
Nevertheless, he is not in a state of exhilaration : his 
bosom does not glow with conscious delii^'ht. Tlilo 
is not, in the case we are contemplating, the result 
of distrust. He has just views of the divine nature 
and knows that everlasting faithfulness will be glori- 



196 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

lied in preserving the work of its own grace. He can- 
not hesitate as to his own participation of the Spirit's 
grace, for affections such as live in his breast could 
be produced by none but the Lord. He, therefore, 
believes that he shall never perish, and is able to 
exercise a quiet, calm, and pure affiance upoh the 
covenant love of the Lord. Yet he is noijoyfal. A 
certain mournfulness, sometimes bordering upon 
sadness, pervades his soul. And although he believes, 
he cannot rise to the high sounds of spiritual exulta- 
tion, nor tune his harp to tones of rapture and de- 
light. Our own experience will probably confirm 
this statement, and demonstrate that the possession 
of positive enjoyment is a privilege distinct from the 
possession of consistency, or even of affiance itself. 
What, then, is it which is necessary for the degree 
of enjoyment which we have declared to be a privi- 
lege properly belonging to the life of faith ? It is 
not a sense of union, for this is not doubted. It is 
not a persuasion of the Lord's faithfulness, this is not 
questioned. It is not an assurance of being pre- 
served unto the end; this is sure, as a necessary con- 
sequence of being one with Christ. It is not a wit- 
ness of integrity, which, even in the midst of con- 
scious unworthiness, is undeniably wrought by the 
Holy Grhost. Have we never observed, in resj^ect of 
the natural figures which are assumed to represent 
the advanced believer, that there is a necessity of 



THE REST OF THE HEART. .197 

having glowing stmbeams upon the garden ? In order 
to give an exhilarating influence upon our spirits, we 
require the cheering ray. Just so is the state of the 
inner man, and by this figure we may understand 
what is needed. Graces and sweet experience may 
abound within us, and yield a proportion of precious 
rest, yet there is something more than these requi- 
site : and the truth is, that direct and lively mani- 
festations of the presence of Jesus must be possessed, 
if we have high enjoyment The language of the heart 
is — Let me hear Thy voice — let me see Thy smile : 
bound not my pleasures by mere evidence, that Thou 
hast been, art, or will be in the abode, but give me 
immediate manifestation of Thyself. 

It mav be interestina; and instructive to examine 
the manner in which the desire is gratified; and as it 
involves much of the responsibility which rests upon 
the believer himself, it becomes a subject of increased 
importance. In order to preserve a close connection 
between this and the last subject, we may prosecute 
an inquiry throagh the same figures as have been so 
prominently before us ; and as we have contemplated 
the believer's soul under the emblem of a garden 
stored with precious plants, continue our inspection 
of this favored spot, with the purpose of inquiry, 
whether the beauties we have there discovered are 
the only or the chief ornaments of the spot. An 
acquaintance with the Bible will immediately show 



198 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

US, that, precious as are the fruits of the new crea- 
tion, there is an excellency which exceeds in glory 
even a human holiness, possessed by Christ Jesus, 
which, as it never experienced the marring power of 
sin, so it never required the new creating grace of 
the Spirit. This Holy One is presented before us in 
the Scriptures, under several figures borrowed from 
nature. Thus in John xv, 1, it is written, " I am the 
true vine;" in Hos. xiv, 8: "I am like a green fir 
tree ; in Cant, ii, 3 : '' As the apple tree among the 
trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons;" 
in Cant, ii, 1: "I am the rose of Sharon, and the 
lily of the valleys;" and in Rev. xxii, 2, in the midst 
of the spiritual city, was there the tree of life. These 
are figures by which the Holy Spirit represents that 
intimate association which subsists between Christ 
and His people, and the nature of those communica- 
tions from Him to the soul, by which the highest 
delights may be secured. 

In the first place, the grace of Jesus, as conde- 
scending to this association, is to be considered, for 
in Him we possess a precious plant, brought as it 
were from the highest region, an exotic, to grow in 
our earth as a peculiar production, with which no 
native of the soil can compare. Yery man as He did 
become for us, He never lost that peculiarity which 
is ascribed to Him as "holy, harmless, undefiled, 
separate from sinners," Heb. vii, 26 ; yet in this 



THE REST OF THE HEART. 199 

character he condescended to grow up before the 
Father as a tender plant, Isa. liii, 2 ; and in respect 
of his lineal descent from David, said to come forth 
as a branch from the root. Isa. xi, 1. He did so, 
that He might communicate the unspeakable bless- 
ings of salvation, and so assume our nature as to 
establish a lasting union between God and man ; not 
only as existing in His own Person as the Christ, 
but as bestowed upon the redeemed in a mystical 
union with Himself. Thus it is written, '' Forasmuch 
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, 
he also himself likcAvise took part of the same." 
Heb. ii, 14. " The word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us, full of grace and truth;" and "of his full- 
ness have all we received, and grace for grace." So 
that by this unspeakable condescension we, who 
were ignorant of God, have Him declared unto us ; 
and we, who were alienated from God, are reinstated 
in loving participation of Him : see John i, 14-16; 
2 Peter i. 4. 

It is in this sense that we are privileged to realize 
the peculiar blessings before us, even the intimate 
and close association of our soul with Him ; and that, 
whilst looking to our own bosom as the garden of 
the Lord, w^e behold not only the plants which de- 
scribe our own state of grace, but that Plant of re- 
nown, in whose sino;ular beauties and frao^rancv we 
see what surpasseth even the fairest conditions of the 



200 PEOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

sons of men : for " he is the chiefest among* ten 
thousand, and altogether lovely !" 

But Jesus is not onl}^ ^^i^lant: He is described by 
plants most serviceable and precious, as we have 
seen. And in order to delight and instruct cur own 
souls, we should turn a minute and particular atten- 
tion to the appellations which are given Him. 

Considered as a Vine, we receive Him in the char- 
acter of a full-bearing tree, producing all those bene- 
fits which secure the great salvation. In the tender 
and dependent nature of this plant, we have an 
affecting emblem of Jesus' humiliation, and of His 
voluntary dependence upon the Father, as having 
made Himself man. But in the richly clustering 
grapes we have a shadow of those peculiar excel- 
lences which were displayed in His obedient life, 
and which were offered to the Father as acceptable 
works. The pleasure of the Lord prospered in His 
hand: and in Him as the anointed One He was 
always well pleased. Isaiah liii, 10; Matt, iii, 17. 
Let us remember, however, that Messiah descended 
and dwelt with men, and obeyed and honored the 
Father in a relative character and office for man; and 
that this was done not merely to produce an acceptable 
righteousness for the sinner, but that the vine and 
its clusters should be gathered, and cast into the wine- 
press. Very affecting is the divine testimony on 
this part of Jesus' grace. As believers, we know 



THE REST OF THE HEART. 201 

that transgression called for judgment, and that 
judgment must necessarily receive its commission 
from a holy and true Grod : that escape there can be 
none, save only as the sentence is inflicted on Him 
who came to be the sinner's friend, and to glorify 
the Father. Hence we are led to the view of our 
blessed Lord as yielding Himself up to be gathered 
by the hand of judgment, and as bruised under the 
weight of our imputed guilt. Thus it is written, " It 
pleased the Lord to bruise him ;" and again, " He 
was bruised for our iniquities." Isaiah liii, 10, 5. 
It is by this offering of Himself that Jesus has 
opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness. It stands 
as it were in the midst of the garden, perpetually sup- 
plied bythe bruised vine, and composed of a wondrous 
and efficacious remedy for every woe : for this is He 
who came by water and by blood. 1 John v, 6. ^ot 
only was He consecrated in His own person by the 
anointing of the Holy Ghost, and the shedding forth 
of His blood, but He has established an abiding 
antidote to sin in all His blood-bought people, 
through the efficacy of the sanctifying Spirit, and 
the washing of His own atoning blood. Neither are 
these the only blessings flowing to us through the 
living vine; from His bruised clusters a cordial 
wine is produced, not only availing to heal the 
wounds which sin has made, but to cheer the de- 
sponding, to sustain the exhausted, and to animate 
17 



202 PROGKESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

the believing ! This was a benefit shadowed forth 
in the sacrifices of the law over which wine was 
poured forth, and referred to in Judges ix, 13, where 
wine is said to make glad the heart of God and man. 
God rejoiceth in the joy of His people : and saints, 
when appropriating redeeming love, are declared to 
rejoice and make a noise as through wine. Zech. 
ix, 15, 17; Isaiah xxv, 6. 

But He stands in the garden as the overshadow- 
ing apple-tree, spreading its boughs abroad, and 
exhibiting the refreshing fruit which is to comfort 
and refresh the weary. Under this shade the soul is 
invited to sit down, and from these branches it is 
privileged to pluck and eat. Here the rich grace 
of Jesus is unfolded, and pardon, justification, peace, 
and every other fruit of redemption, are freely prof- 
fered. Let us observe the excellent quality of this 
fruit, and understand its healing virtues. The cove- 
nant blessing is this, ''I will forgive their iniquity, 
and I will remember their sin no more." Jer. xxxi, 
34. " There is therefore now no condemnation to 
them that are in Christ Jesus." Rom. viii, 1. " My 
peace I give unto you." John xiv, 27. 

Let us continue our contemplation of the character 
of our Lord, and behold Him as the lily or the rose. 
In natural productions we know that there are none 
more lovely or fragrant than these, and that we 
cultivate them as among the chief ornaments to our 



THE REST OF THE HEART. 203 

grounds. But wlio can sufficiently express the love- 
liness or fragrance of Him whom the Holy Ghost 
thus sets forth ? In His innocency, modest}', and 
humility, He sheds a perfume in the region where 
He grows : and in His glowing character of love, as 
mingling Himself among the various plants of which 
our hearts are hy grace made productive. He gives 
an unspeakable beauty, and forms the most attrac- 
tive object. And this is not all ; for, like the rose, 
He perpetuates His sweetness : and as the leaves of 
the flower are gathered to perfume our houses or 
our dress, so He, as a rose that has been gathered, 
gives forth a precious fragrancy which serves to im- 
pregnate the Christian life with its sweetness. "What 
is so sweet as a crucified Lord ? In this offering He 
was a sweet savor unto God : and as thus exhibited 
to faith, He is the dearest possession of the heart. 
Eph. V, 2; Gal. iii, 1; Rev. v, 6-9. 

By combining all these characters, as set forth in 
the several appellations we have considered, we come 
to the view of our Lord as the Tree of Life: a title 
which comprises in it all that faith can desire. It 
carries us back to the first Eden, wherein the sacra- 
mental pledge was seen and possessed by Adam. It 
was free and open of access, as a sign and pledge of 
present and future blessings in store for man, depend- 
ent on his obedience. The obedience was broken, 
and the pledge was withdrawn. The unsheathed 



204 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

sword was displa^^ed, and, turning every way to keep 
the way of the tree of life, proclaimed the awful pro- 
hibition and forfeiture ! The life thus lost to the sin- 
ner is restored in a second Adam ; and in Jesus we 
behold, not a type or shadow, but the substance of 
spiritual eternal life given back to man. He stands 
in the midst of the Church, in the midst of the re- 
newed heart, as the abiding life and source of life to 
His people. His bovighs aiford perpetual fruit, ^o 
winter seasons, no exhaustion of the productions, 
can be known by Him ; He yieldeth his fruit every 
month; and the leaves, of this tree are for the heal- 
ing of the nations. Rev. xxii, 2. 

Let us not say that, interesting as the view of 
Jesus may be, in respect of His grace and glory, it 
seems little connected with the subject of the be- 
liever's enjoyment It is true all these privileges are 
the believer's in whatever frame of mind he may 
embrace them, but they are privileges which afford 
not only the quiet repose of faith, but which yield the 
supply of bliss, and it is from Jesus, as apprehended 
powerfully, and as revealed manifestly in those char- 
acters, that the peculiar enjoyment we are to seek 
is given. Let us, therefore, understand that the 
possession of such a part of Christian experience be- 
longs not so much to the habitual life of faith, as to 
the particular acts of faith. And that our faith must 
be called forth into these special expressions, not 



THE REST OF THE HEART. 205 

restlii": ill a o-eneral sense of the fallness of Jesus, 
but taking out of that fulhiess by diligent application 
to the several parts of His work thus revealed. For 
example, we feel experimentally, that if we desire a 
hlissfal assurance from the condescension of Christ, 
it is by means of entering into Him, or entwining 
ourselves around Him as our incarnate God; enjoy- 
ment is possessed in proportion to the liveliness with 
which we can say He is my brother, my friend, I 
lean upon His arm, I trust Him with all my case, I 
see Him my ever present and my sympathizing asso- 
ciate. In order to positive enjoyment we must be 
in the act of contemplating His richly redeeming love, 
and of plunging into the fountain which is opened 
in His blood. Our bliss is found in feeling that tb^ 
blood of Jesus is as it were fresh-sprinkled upon the 
heart. It is true we possess peace in this atonement, 
and the benefits of full remission when we come to 
Christ ; but we find, as we advance on our way, that 
the recollection of even pardoned guilt produces pres- 
ent pain, and that the sense of continued vileness 
and defilement forms a burden upon the breast. 
!N^othiog can remove or assuage this, but renewed 
application of the same blood as did at first bring us 
peace ; and therefore, if we would live in spiritual 
enjoyment^ we must come again and again by acts of 
faith. It is not enous;!! that we have once drank of 
the wine of the cup ; enough, indeed, it is to be a sure 
17* 



206 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

pledge of final blessedness; but ere we reach the 
eternal rest, we have to encounter many a wearisome 
fainting and fatigue of soul, which, were it not for 
the cordial, would sink us to the earth. Our enjoy- 
ment is found in bringing the cup again to our 
parched lips, and in renewing our taste of the reviv- 
ings of salvation as drawn from a crucified Lord. It 
is a blessed privilege to know that the apple tree is 
in the garden, and that its boughs bear their fruit 
for our souls ! But do we not know that hliss is de- 
pendent upon the positive use of the blessing ? We 
must sit down under its shadow, we must pluck oiF 
the apple, we must eat it and find it sweet to our 
taste, otherwise the high consolations of faith will 
not be ours. Thus the spouse is represented as long- 
ing for such intimate and realizing acts. " Comfort 
me with apples, for I am sick of love." Cant, ii, 5. 
It is not enough that the rose and the lily adorn the 
garden, we must gather them and apply their sweet- 
ness. It is by drawing closely to our crucified Lord, 
by investigation of His innocency and bleeding love, 
by intense contemplation of His grace, and by hold- 
ing Him firmly and nearly to our breast, that we 
experience that rich impregnating sweetness which 
imparts a joyous persuasion of Christ's love. By 
similar acts of faith we must appropriate the blissful 
truths contained in the relation which Jesus bears 
to the soul as the tree of life. We must not only 



THE REST OF THE HEART. 207 

contemplate tlie blessings with admiration, but we 
must call forth a lively sense of their value as dis- 
played by the spiritual Eden He has produced within 
the heart, and in glowing anticipation of the paradise 
that is above. There the fullness of the redeemed 
inheritance is laid up for the ransomed of the Lord, 
and these are privileged to rejoice in the promise, 
" to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of 
God." Eev. ii, 7. 

Thus we perceive that there is a high and peculiar 
state of spiritual bliss into which advanced Christians 
are introduced even on this side eternity. It is 
manifestly a desirable possession, and it is evident it 
is attained through special acts of faith. Our own 
responsibility, therefore, stands conspicuously before 
us, for as w^e perceive that enjoyment is in a sober, 
rational, and believing state of soul, maintained by 
lively acceptance of revelation, w^e become charge- 
able with great and reprehensible negligence of 
privilege if we are not resolutely seeking it. We 
should, therefore, look into the present state of our 
hearts with holy solicitude, to urge them upon 
activity, and to determine whether we are in posses- 
sion of the blessedness described. 

If we have this spiritual enjoyment, our attention 
must be given to cherish it diligently, and to seek 
the continuance of spiritual simplicity ; so that we 



208 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

may not lower the standard of our own experlenc3, 
nor in any measure admit into our feelings a corrupt 
and selfish mixture. Let us remember, at all times, 
that although we may derive comfort from the plants 
of the new creation, rejoicing to behold our hearts 
made the garden of the Lord, we must consider these 
but evidences of His work, who is in Himself the 
true, pure, and unmixed source of holy joy ; and in 
every sweet excitement of bliss we feel, it should be 
our earnest endeavor to ascertain that we possess it 
as drawn out of the broken and lovins: heart of Him, 
who gives us all our joys through His pains. If we 
are destitute of this joy, it is our duty to inquire 
wherefore we are not so privileged as others are. 
It may be that there is some evil in us, that we do 
not sufficiently mortify and resist: if so, we should 
at once encounter it, and offer it as a sacrifice to the 
Lord. If our sadness originates from such a cause, 
remove the cause, and the sadness will also depart. 
But possibly it may proceed from the Lord's vigilant 
care to 'prevent an evil to which we are disposed. 
Some persons, whilst abhorring their guUty self, are 
inclined to fall in love with their sanctljication ; and 
are so determined upon ascribing their enjoyment 
to the plants which belong to their own state of 
grace, that they turn not aside to contemplate the 
more excellent "Plant of Renown." If this be the 
case, it would be unsuitable to allow the soul to find 



THE REST OF THE HEART. 209 

gratification, and, therefore, it is sad. Turn, then, 
for a while, even from the work of grace, that Jesus 
Christ alone may be beheld, and endeavor to take 
Him in the blessed characters He fulfills for His 
people freely and simply as He is given to the soul. 
Whilst delighting in the life and labor of love, we 
must advance in spiritual discernment into the reve- 
lation of Jesus, that it may be our joy to be complete 
in Him. This is what belongs to an advanced state 
of experience belonging to a renewed heart ; it con- 
sists with increased sense of personal demerit, and 
is instrumental to promote real excellence. 



210 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE HEART'S CHAIIITY. 

"Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also which shall 
believe on me through their word : that they all may be one ; as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one 
in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And 
the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them ; that they 
may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, that 
they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may know 
that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved 
me." — John xvii, 20-23. 

A SOUL advanced into the possession of those 
spiritual enjoyments which we last investigated, is 
prepared for the exercise of many dispositions which 
are of a relative kind, and which can only be demon- 
strated by such as are in the intimate fellowship of 
the Spirit; they are the peculiar affections of the faith- 
ful toward their fellow-members and their fellow-men, 
and are in action proportionably to the individual 
influence of the naind of Jesus, which they experience 
in their own souls. The Lord has great designs also 
in rendering His people relatively a blessing; He 
hereby exhibits the lovely productions of holiness 
and peace, .so as to justify His own work; and He puts 
His redeemed upon the manifestation of disinterested 
and liberal feeling, so that their new life is called 



THE heart's charity. 211 

forth into vigorous exertion. Were it not thus, the 
evil of selfishness might still hide itself even under 
the appearance of that which is lovely, or might act 
as a canker worm to the fruits which we produce. 
There is no reproach which we have greater reason 
to deprecate than that which was spoken against 
Israel. He " is an empty vine, he bringeth forth 
fruit unto himself. ^^ Hosea x, 1. And when we are 
in the possession of conscious personal interest in the 
Lord, we shall do w^ell to be upon our guard, lest we 
should in any degree evince indifference to the inter- 
ests and enjoyment of others. Wherever the work of 
the Holy Ghost exists, there will be the precious pro- 
ductions which furnish the believer for the display 
of every part of the Christian life, and zeal and love 
will have the conspicuous place in the regenerate 
heart. These will produce their own genuine effects, 
and by this means there will be a beautiful agree- 
ment between the character of Jesus, as considered 
in the preceding subject, and that of the souls im- 
bued wdth His spirit : so that w^hat w^e have seen of 
our Lord, as condescending to become our brother, 
and as such to be to us a fruit-bearing, overshadow- 
ing, fragrant, sustaining blessing, will, in measure, 
be answered in the life of the saint. 

In the condescension of Jesus, there was, indeed, 
and is, an unspeakable grace, never to be fully com- 
prehended, or exhibited by the creature. His was 



212 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

the stooping of godhead to miserable man, and this 
by a voluntary assumption of our nature under cir- 
cumstances of deep humiliation. He, " being in the 
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God," Phil, ii, 6; yet he made Himself of no reputa- 
tion, and humbled Himself, taking the form of a 
servant, and being obedient unto death, even the 
death of the cross. Phil, ii, 7, 8. This was an act 
which must ever remain unfathomable in mercy and 
grace, the admiration and wonder of angels. Yet, 
whilst we give glory to Him as the exalted Head, 
we must not be ignorant of the likeness subsisting, 
even in this respect, between Him and His mem- 
bers. In the passage referre.d to, the Apostle intro- 
duces the recollection of this grace in the Saviour, 
with a practical intention. His exhortation stands 
in connection with it, ^'Let this mind be in you, 
which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil, ii, 5. So 
that it is rendered undeniable, that the Christian is 
required to exercise a mind full of condescension, 
kindness, piety, forbearance, and tender charities, as 
it is written, " We then that are strong ought to 
bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please 
ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor, 
for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased 
not himself; but, as it is written, the reproaches of 
them that reproached thee fell on me." Pom.xv, 1-3. 
But it may be said, how is it that a redeemed sinner 



THE heart's charity. 213 

can be desci^ibed as condescending to man ? lie is 
Himself partaker of human nature by natural 
descent from Adam, and Ho has also, notwithstand- 
ing His privilege in redemption, a participation in 
the entailed curse and sin belonging to fallen nature: 
He cannot, therefore, be supposed as stooping below 
Himself, even in any case to which He may direct 
His interest, or sympathy ! This is true. Yet it 
does not interfere with the propriety of the exhorta- 
tion, that we should condescend. Children of God 
are by conversion put into possession of a new na- 
ture. In their new principle, or new creation, they 
possess likeness with their Lord. And as He was 
holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners 
in His immaculate humanity, so the saint's new 
principle of life may be thus characterized. It is 
holy, being the pure, incorruptible seed. 1 Peter i, 
22,23. It is harmless, having the lamb-like dispo- 
sition of love and peace. Matt, x, 16. It is unde- 
filed, for the followers of the lamb keep their gar- 
ments, and are without guile before Him. Rev. xiv, 
5. It is separate from sinners, for the sons and 
daughters of the Lord God Almighty hear the divine 
voice which calls them forth from the world, and 
they come out and are separate. 2 Cor. vi, 17, 18. 
J^either is there any disposition more conspicuously 
evinced by the disciples, than their dread of being 
found of the world. Thus David supplicates, 
18 



214 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

'' Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with 
bloody men," etc. Ps. xxvi, 9-11. E^evertheless, the 
spirit is kept in conscious lowliness, and in unfeigned 
charity. It is not a separation produced by self- 
importance, or maintained in self-conceit. Having 
an experimental knowledge of God's dealings, who 
is good, and merciful, and, therefore, teacheth sin- 
ners in the way (Ps. xxv, 8), he desires to reflect 
the same image; he also would mingle mercy with 
his goodness ; and having felt what it is to be a sin- 
ner, and known the blessedness of passing from this 
state of death, he has a heart which zealously and 
affectionately seeks to persuade men, and pluck 
them from the fire. 2 Cor. v, 11 ; Jude 23. But 
this disposition is not only in action toward the 
wanderer : it lives in perpetual readiness toward the 
professing body, and to every member thereof will 
extend tender forbearance and sympathy. There are 
many upright souls in the Church of Christ, w^ho 
will call upon the affections. They are possibly 
weak in knowledge, experience, and faith : they are 
liable to many sorrows, temptations, and assaults, 
and are frequently burdened with infirmity, and im- 
peded by trials. Toward these the Scripture has 
enjoined the more advanced to exercise correspond- 
ent feelings — " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in 
a fault, ye that are spiritual restore such an one in 
the spirit of meekness, consideriiig thyself, lest thou 



THE heart's CIIARITY. 215 

also be tempted. Bear je one another's burdens, 
and so fulfill the law of Christ." Gal. vi, 2. " iSTow 
we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, 
comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be 
patient toward all men." 1 Thess. v, 14. These are 
affections which, according to the example of the 
Apostle, must be in exercise, with that kind of sym- 
pathy whicli renders the experience of the tried one 
near and important, even as if it were our own. 
" W"iio is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, 
and I burn not?" 2 Cor. xi, 29. 

Impartialify being one of the greatest requisites 
in the life of genuine charity, and consequently 
wrought in the regenerate by the Holy Spirit, we 
shall discover it in proportion to the advance of the 
soul, abundant in universal condescension. It does not 
depart from its own high protection, but it stands 
with open arms to invite all to participate in its joys. 
It does not allow of any depression of the search after 
knowledge, but it is ready to enter into the expe- 
rience of the most infantine in the Church of Christ, 
and in this mind lives, speaks, and acts as his Mas- 
ter did, according to the measure which a disciple 
may obtain. It is necessary to admit this considera- 
tion with some serious attention, for if we are defect- 
ive in the spirit, we shall awfully err against the 
Christian standard. "We are commanded to " conde- 
scend to men of low estatCj^ E,om. xii, 16 ; a precept 



216 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

which is followed by these words, "Be not wise in 
your own conceits." This seems to affix the true 
meaning to the passage, and to show us that a low 
estate^ intellectuallij demonstrated, is the condition we 
are thus to receive under our sympathy ; our own 
observation will convince us of the many who live 
in the service of Jesus, who are very deficient in point 
of judgment or knowledge. Some have had little 
advantage for furthering such attainments ; others 
are not talented equally with those who have more 
enlarged capacities : some are beginners in the way, 
and some are so illiterate, that upon the most com- 
mon concerns they have difficulty in conveying their 
meaning by words. In such instances, the more 
cultivated and advanced may be inclined to feel, and 
betray not only surprise, but impatience and rash 
judgment, and so may fall into the snare of discom- 
posing and troubling the upright, and of committing 
a trespass against the spirit of humility and love. 
Here, therefore, condescension must be in exercise, 
teaching us kindly, and judiciously, and patiently, to 
bear with what is homely, and to penetrate through 
the obscurity of erroneous terms into the intention and 
feeling of the person. To this low estate Jesus did, 
and does condescend; He will not quench the smok- 
ing flax; He will carry the lambs in His bosom, and 
gently lead those that are with young : and the dis- 
ciple is bound to emulate likeness to his Master. 



THE heart's charity. 217 

But we will not limit our view of condescension 
to the low estate which respects profession or intel- 
lect. They who fill the low estate of the poor of 
this world are amonsf the number of such as we 
must unfeignedly condescend unto. Difference of 
station in life belongs to the divine government, and 
is necessary for wise ends; but it does not place any 
real difference between man and man as the crea- 
tures of God. '' He hath made of one blood all 
nations," Acts xvii, 26, and we all alike descend from 
Adam as our parent stock. The believer remem- 
bers this, and is exhorted to act upon it, not showing 
respect of persons (James ii, 1-5), as a part of his 
conformity to the Lord. 1 Peter i, 17. And if it be 
done in the spirit of Jesus, it will be impartial, not 
confined to the veri/ poor, not done with visible sense 
of condescension, not limited to such as are more 
immediately connected with us, but universal, with- 
out prejudice, without hypocrisy, and without par- 
tiality. 

Thus we perceive what is the general and habitual 
preparation of heart possessed by the believer toward 
a more special display of his likeness to Jesus, and 
how, having a brother's heart, he is read}^, as the oc- 
casion may require, to evince the disposition of a 
brother. ^ 

As Jesus is pre-eminently the living or true Vine, 
His disciple will also in his degree exhibit a pre- 
18* 



218 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

eminence of tills description : he also will bear the 
clustering grape, and by the juice thereof make glad 
the heart of God and man. It is true he bears no 
justifying — no atoning fruit ; but he bears fruity and 
this is acceptable unto God ; he receives the sweet 
savor as the effect of His own operative grace, and 
as coming up before him in Christ. 1 Thess. iv, 1 ; 
Heb. xiii, 16; Phil, iv, 18. Toward man his fruits 
are relatively gladness, joy, blessing. According to 
the Scripture account of God's children, the wilder- 
ness is glad for him: he strengthens the weak 
hands, and confirms the feeble knees, Isaiah xxxv, 
3; he ministers the cup of salvation as God's instru- 
ment, presenting it to the lips of the parched and 
thirsty soul ; and he passes on his way, intent upon 
strengthening the weary by the words of his mouth, 
and confirming them in their privileges by counsel 
and prayer. See Job xvi, 5 ; Acts xviii, 23. There 
are many living examples of this fact. We look 
upon innumerable guilty, sin-burdened souls, who 
have been encouraged to turn to the great salvation 
by the testimony which the matured believer has 
given, and upon many even of the vigorous and 
strong in faith, whose consolations and joy have been 
rendered more abundant by the Christian fellowship 
they have found in this fruit-bearing Vine. Rom. i, 
12; XV, 32; 1 Cor. xvi, 18. 

The wide-spreading and fruitful bough is also an 



THE heart's charity. 219 

emblem of Jesus' disciple. The relative affections 
of the believer are constituted overshadowing bless- 
ings to pilgrims : they dwell under his shadow, and 
return, revive, grow, and give their fragrancy abroad. 
Hosea xiv, 7. They find in the advanced experience, 
and wise counsel, and sheltering kindness of such an 
one, blessed rest, and holy edification ; and many a 
time, when ready to faint under persecution, 
calumny, affliction, conflict, they run as it were un- 
derneath these bouo-lis, and thev feel themselves 
stayed and comforted. N^either is it to the time of 
their sojourning here that these relative benefits are 
CDnfined. Believers are comparable to the lily and 
the rose, Cant, ii, 1, giving sweetness where they 
dwell, and after their departure hence their fragrancy 
remains. In this they are conformed to their Lord. 
They are plucked, and gathered, and gone, but the 
savor of their conversation and example remains, so 
that being dead they yet speak. Heb. xi, 4. Their 
tongue is silent in the grave, and their spirits are 
with those who dwell on Mount Zion above ; never- 
theless, they are present still in the memory of those 
to whom they have ministered on earth, and in whom 
the benefit of their work of love still remains. The 
recollection of their zeal, devotion, charity, patience, 
faith, especially as evinced in their dying hours, 
sheds a refreshing influence on those who mourn 
their departure, and who press toward the same 



220 PEOGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

mark : thus they are added to the cload of witnesses 
who are encompassing the militant church. Heb. 
xii, 1, 2, 23. 

These are spiritual excellences of a high and 
singular kind: and we as saints should labor to 
possess growing appreciation of them. They not 
only belong exclusively to such as are born again of 
the Spirit, but in their perfect development they 
belong to such as are matured in the faith. It is the 
very existence of Jehovah Himself who is love — com- 
municative love ! We behold our God in His own 
infinite perfection, which is essential in His own un- 
created and blessed nature, and we admire and 
adore : we behold Him as manifested in His dear 
Son, and thus bringing divine charity near unto man, 
a charity which by boundless free grace has dispensed 
life to the lost world, and embraced the wretched 
outcast with purposes of unsearchable love. We 
contemplate this act of grace with increased under- 
standing of its glorious fullness, and we bless Him 
with the grateful tribute of that heart He has con- 
quered for Himself. We feel also that he who dwell- 
eth in God, dwelleth in Lj\^e, not only as divine love 
is thus become His dwelling-place, but as he expe- 
riences its impregnating virtue and power diffusively 
giving itself through the inward man, and causing 
him in his measure to be Love. It is, therefore, an 
excellent, high, and supernatural existence ! Alas, 



THE heart's charity. 221 

by nature we are wholly of a contrary mind, liateful 
and hating one another, seeking our own, biting and 
devouring one another. Titus iii, 3 ; James iii ; 
Gal. V, 15. N"or are we ever brought into the pos- 
session of charity until we are constrained by the 
love of Christ. 2 Cor. v, 14. 

It is also necessary, even in believers, that this dis- 
position be excited, prayed over and watched for. 
In us there is a corrupt fleshy law which wars against 
that which is spiritual ; there is a constant tendency 
to slothfulness and selfishness, which must be reso- 
lutely resisted ; and we should be so sensible of this 
as to live proportionably close to our Lord and in His 
Spirit. As assistant to our lively expression of this 
relative zeal, we should call in the recollection of 
our own individual experience. This will teach us 
with increased emotion to contemplate the time of 
our alienation from God, when w^e lived without 
Him in the world, were apostates and w^orkers of 
evil, when the act of sovereign grace found, rescued, 
and saved us. It will teach us to feel the incon- 
sistency of dealing out censures against others, and 
the wickedness of castins: a stone as^ainst a fellow- 
sinner; since mercy has prevailed for our own soul, 
we shall believe that it can prevail for the most 
abandoned. We contemplate — and our faith gather- 
ing fervor by such reflection, will be ready thus to 
embrace the poor sinner, bringing him before the 



222 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

mercj-seat in our arms of charity ; and saying, 
" Lord, since thy love has been magnified in me, O 
why shall it not be magnified in this poor soul." See 
1 Tim. i, 15. We should constantly reflect upon 
our own short-comings : see what it has cost us to 
reach the present standard ; what conflict, what 
heart-breakings, what humiliation, what agony ; and 
how after all, we are but unprofitable servants. This 
hasty fall will excite the grace of charity. We dare 
not hurl the stone of condemnation : it drops from 
our uplifted hand. We dare not rashly censure, or 
pass judgment upon our fellow-traveler; knowing 
by experience how much may be endured before 
God, to which no human eye is privy, we learn to 
hope, and pray, and forbear. John viii, 7; Luke 
xvii, 18; xxii, 32; Horn, vii, 18, 19. These helps 
will be found serviceable in furthering our own souls 
in the life of love. And we should habitually bear 
about with us the recollection of what the Lord has 
done, is doing, and must still do for us, if we attain 
the high places of the kingdom, and live to the glory 
of His redeeming name. 

To this standard let us perpetually aim, and sup- 
plicate our Lord to sanctify all the steps we have 
trod — all the mercies and deliverances we have ex- 
perienced — and all the spiritual enjoyments into 
which we are admitted ; that they may lead us forth 
into the life of visible, impartial, experimental charity 



THE heart's charity. 223 

here on earth, and number us with those blessed 
ones whose memory is made a blessing, and whose 
sweet savor in Christ is never lost in life or death ! 
may the weary, the tried, the sorrowful; yea, the 
guilty also, find in us a tenderness which meets their 
every want, and which in the Spirit's power shall be 
blest in drying the mourner's tear, and in bringing 
the strano^er home ! 



224 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 



THE MATURED AND RIPElSrED EX- 
PERIENCE OF THE HEART. 

" For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then 
the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is 
brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the 
harvest is come." — Mark iv, 28, 29. 

Having passed through the investigation of man's 
condition under several important periods of his pro- 
bationary state, and conducted him in this view from 
his state of native apostasy, up to that of a matured 
experience in the heavenly life, it remains for us 
previously to quitting this interesting subject, to ex- 
amine the season in which the saint may be con- 
sidered ripe for that blessed exchange which he will 
make of time for eternity. It is the season wherein 
the Lord gathers His matured fruit, and takes it to 
Himself in the heavenly garner. Let the mind at 
this moment recall the stages through which we have 
passed. We have considered the sinner as apostate 
from God, as under conviction upon His judgment 
and natural feelings, as moved to a holy profession 
of return to God, as restless whilst with divided 
affections, and brought to decision by the release of 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 225 

his will, as entering upon an upright warfare against 
sin, as experiencing personal impotency in the con- 
flict, as abased and contrite, as pouring out his heart 
at the foot of the cross with a desire for union with 
tlesus, as taken into conscious union, as conscious 
henceforth of vigorous power unto holiness, as ex- 
hibiting visible beauty in the Christian life, as living 
in holy vigilance, as kept by the covenant power of 
God, as abounding in spiritual enjoyment, as living 
in lively affections of relative charity. We must 
remember that in all this experience is a progressive 
condition of excellence, and that it is all designed for 
the purpose of introducing the soul into its proper 
final existence, in that region of glory where faith 
wdll be succeeded by blissful vision, and where con- 
flict will give place to everlasting peace ! 

In all creation there is a certain order observed by 
the Creator, ^one of His works on earth present 
us with any production that is at once perfect in ma- 
turity, or strength, or beauty. From the lowest to 
the most exalted of God's creatures in the ve2:etable 
or animal world, there is a progressive existence ad- 
vancing to the perfection of its species or kind, and 
preserving a vast and wonderful distinction between 
the Almighty Worker and His work. Jehovah 
alone is intinitely perfect; in His own self-existent 
Being, possessing a perfection which admits of no 
gradation, or variation in quality or degree. He is 
19 



226 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

" the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever !" 
Heb. xiii, 8. 

It is interesting and important to observe how this 
order of progressive attainment is appointed, not 
only in the natural, but also in the spiritual world; 
and that the whole of the new Creation is thus 
arranged. Even in respect of Christ the living Head, 
we perceive that such is the divine will. In His 
assumption of human nature, He took it in all its in- 
fantine weaknesses, and " increased in wisdom and 
stature," according to the prophecy which declared 
that he should groio up. Isaiah xi, 1. And be given 
as a child. Isaiah ix, 6. So also in respect of His 
covenant character, He is described as attaining to a 
certain perfection, or completion of the state requisite 
for its several parts. We read that it '' became him, 
for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, 
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the cap- 
tain of their salvation jperfect through suffering." 
Heb. ii, 10. And that " being made perfect, he became 
the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey 
him." Heb. v, 9. We should rightly understand 
these testimonies, otherwise we might fall into the 
error of supposing that our Lord possessed more 
fitness or provision for the sacrifice of Himself and 
His mediatorial government, at one period than 
another. Whereas Jesus was always God's Christ. 
He was not more lioly in one stage of His life than 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 227 

anofher, but was from His conception " that Holy 
thing." He was not possessed of the Holj Ghost 
with more fulhiess at one time than another, for the 
Spirit dwelt without measure in Him. In Him 
dwelt all fullness, yea, the fullness of the Godhead 
bodily, not only as He is the incarnate God, but as 
He ever possessed the fullness of the complacent 
presence of the Father and Spirit in His office char- 
acter. Consequently He was always our Prophet, 
our Priest, and our King; as the history of His time 
of humiliation will sufficiently determine, i^ever- 
theless, there was a giving forth, or development, of 
His Messiahship, according to the progressive light 
He came to diffuse amongst men, and belonging to 
the several stages through which He had to pass in 
accomplishing the conditions of salvation, and pass- 
ing to His Mediatorial seat above ; where He liveth 
the perfect captain and author of salvation, altogether 
such an one as answers the testimony of His grace, 
and the nature of His kingdom. 

When directing our attention to Christ's mystical 
body, the Church, we discover the same order ; that 
is, a progression which belongs to the nature of the 
divine dispensation. The Church itself has a certain 
stature or measure unto which it is ordained to reach. 
This sublime interest is not left under the notion of 
uncertainty, or indecision, on the part of God, re- 
specting its arrangement for time or eternity. Known 



228 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

unto God are all His works from the beginning. By 
Him '■' the whole family in heaven and earth is 
named." Eph. iii, 15. And the whole shall be com- 
posed of individual members ordained to the final 
inheritance. Correspondently with this gospel reve- 
lation, is the type of which we read in Exod. xxv, 9, 
and which is interpreted in Heb. viii, 5 ; iii, 1-6. 
The tabernacle built by Moses was typical of Christ's 
mystical body, the Church. It was built after the 
pattern that was first exhibited to Moses in the 
Mount ; and he was solemnly charged to adhere to 
this rule, and be faithful to his responsibility. So 
Christ buildeth His Church in covenant obedience, 
and according to the pattern of the everlasting pur- 
pose, and consequently addeth daily to the Church 
such as shall be saved. Acts ii, 47. It therefore 
groweth up into a holy temple, maketh increase by 
perpetual addition to its numbers ; as also by con- 
tinual advances in knowledge, charity, and visible 
holiness, according to what is written in Eph. iv, 
12-16. . This is called the 'perfecting of the body, that 
is, it is the maturing of its spiritual existence, and 
the rapid advance to that period when, the last stone 
being brought and cemented to the building, the 
scaffolding of this world will be removed, and the 
crowned Church appear perfect in her Lord. 

It is by the same arrangement that individual be- 
lievers are brought to their perfection ; that is shown 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 229 

b}' Epb. iv, 13, 14, and we meet with other passages 
ill the word, which speak of saint^ as advancing from 
infancy to manhood, and so possessing a perfection 
in their life. Thus Paul exhorts, " howbeit in malice, 
be je children, but in understanding be me?z." 1 
Cor. xiv, 20. 

We speak wisdom to them that are jperfect. Milk 
for babes, strong meat for men. Let as many of you as 
be perfect be of the same mind. I count not myself 
as having attained, nor as though I were already 
'perfect; see 1 Cor. ii, 6; Phil, iii, 12, 15. And so 
again it is said, th.it believers grow like the lily, and 
that they bring forth more fruit in their old age. 
Hosea xiv, 5; Psalm xcii, 12-15. Consequently 
we find that it is in accordance with the divine 
arrangement, that in spiritual life there is, " first the 
blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
ear." Mark iv, 28. It is requisite to be well-in- 
formed upon this point equally with those preced- 
ing. We talk oi growing in grace ^ and it is with pro- 
priety we use the expression ! At the same time we 
should determine what is meant by this phrase. It 
is not that we receive new principles as we advance. 
We received the comprehensive principle once, that 
is in regeneration. Regeneration is not a progres- 
sive, but an instantaneous act, giving life to the 
dead, in which blessing there is no gradation or dif- 
ference of degree. And the principle of life is per- 



230 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

feet — 'the incorruptible seed. Growth in grace, there- 
fore, consists of the progressive development of this 
holy seed, under the- nurturing operation of the 
Spirit, through the means. It is the same holy life 
as was at first given, but it is demonstrated in ma- 
turing beauty; and in this last stage is the perfec- 
tion of the heavenly plant. 

These considerations will assist us in our further 
inquiry as to the nature of this matured life : for it 
is proper to observe, that it is discoverable in the in- 
creased decision, and power of affection or experience 
already possessed, not of new dispositions which were 
hitherto not included in the work of grace. Thus, 
for instance, the ripened believer has in an early 
stage passed through deep conviction, and distressing 
discoveries of his own nature and heart. An increase 
of this conviction belons^s to increasinsr 2:race ; the 
difference lies in its accompaniments. Formerly it 
was productive of much distraction, or internal 
tumult, agitation, anguish, and assaults upon faith 
and hope : but now it is experienced in a mind so 
far self-reduced and mortified, as to receive the dis- 
covery in submissive abasement. There is a decrease 
of self-importance, of self-expectation, and a spiritual 
understanding of the necessity for laying the axe to 
the root of the tree. Hence, the believer will say 
w^ith unfeigned lowliness, " I must decrease !" And 
perceives that he receives the sentence of death in 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 231 

himself, that he should not trust in himself, but in 
God who raiseth the dead. 2 Cor. i, 9. 

Another mark of growth in grace is, when the 
covenant method of salvation becomes increasingly 
precious, through the knowledge of our own vileness 
and unworthiness. Redemption in the blessed surety 
has been already appreciated and powerfully applied; 
nevertheless, increased experience will add a daily 
measure of love and gratitude to that we have exer- 
cised ; and dependence upon the Lord Jesus will be- 
come proportionably simple. This the apostle calls 
growing up into him in all things who is the head, 
even Christ. Eph. iv, 15. And this answers to the 
testimony in Pro v. iv, 18, the path of the just shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day. Pilgrimage is 
increasingly cheered by the effulgent beams which 
are given from the Sun of Righteousness, until in 
the meridian ray the spirit is ripened — complete — 
perfected — delivered from the miserable obstacles to 
peace, which arise out of self-seeking, and brought 
into the blessed possession of a pure or unmixed 
faith in the all-sufficient Saviour. 

These are exercises which by no means interfere 
with the advancement of the soul in all visible holi- 
ness. The features of the new creature in Christ are 
always after the pattern of Him ; and as the saint 
matures, his likeness to his Lord becomes more con- 
spicuous ; and if we may adopt the language, he is 



M'l PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

more manly ^ more energetic^ lias more of character in 
his face. This is observable very particularly in the 
advance which is made in spiritual indifference to the 
world and weanedness from its joys and sorrows ; 
the soul possessing a sweet serenity and calmness, 
that deepens with time, combined, as we have shown, 
with unfeigned love of mankind, so that whilst by 
the strong impulse of love attracted heavenward the 
spirit perpetually bounds to the bosom of the Lord, 
so again by the strong impulse of charity yearning 
over the souls of men, it drops down again with lov- 
ing willingness to abide in the flesh, if by any means 
it may be made instrumental to bless the world. It 
is evident that such were the fervent affections of the 
ripened Apostles previously to their final departure 
hence ; we, therefore, conclude that as in them, so in 
us, this disposition belongs to an advanced state of 
grace being produced through long experience, well 
disciplined feelings, and sanctified self-knowledge. 
See Phil, i, 23, 24 ; 2 Pet. i, 13, 15 ; 1 Cor. xiii ; 2 
Thess. i, 3. 

These blessed affections being brought to a state 
of maturity, we may say the gathering time is come; 
or that should it please the Lord not immediately to 
take hence the soul, its meetness for the great event 
is conspicuous and clear. We may possibly in the 
course of this subject have had it suggested to us to 
inquire, whether we are to conclude that in all in- 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 233 

stances when the soul is prepared for its departure it 
will immediately be taken away, so that the delay of 
this event is to be considered as a token of unmeet- 
ness, or of not being ripe ! The m.ost satisfactory reply 
to this question will be found by turning our atten- 
tion to the several emblems used to represent the 
saints, l^ow we know that the flower will attain to 
its perfection, exhibit the full development of its 
beauties, its rich variety of glowing tints, its fra- 
grancy and vigor, and continue to stand in the gar- 
den ; and, long ere it yields to decay, will refresh us 
with its loveliness. The fruit also that hangs ripe 
on the bough continues to present itself to the eye 
in its mellowed maturity, long before the hand is 
put forth to sever it from the branch on which it 
grows. And the corn, even when reaped by the 
sickle, is suffered to stand in the open field ere it be 
taken home to the garner, and is many times contem- 
plated by the passenger on his way, or by the owner 
of the crop. Just so is it with ripened souls ; they 
may be standing complete in Him. Col.iv, 12. And 
in experience be ready to depart, 2 Tim. iv, 6,7: 
nevertheless, they may not yet be gathered. The 
Lord has infinitely wise reasons for this delay. He 
will not hastily take away what is calculated to re- 
flect so much glory to Him in the Church and in the 
world. It is good to lend the ripened soul awhile to 
this region of sin and woe, that so others may derive 



234 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

a parting blessing from this their advancement, and 
the Author of their excellence be glorified. And in 
respect of the dying, who being ready to drop are 
yet held by some slender tie which still detains them 
in the vale below or on their dying bed, it is fre- 
quently tlie occasion of much honor and praise to 
the Lord, by affording an opportunity for the saint 
to manifest the triumphs of faith, and the perfection 
of patience. These reasons are sufficient to satisfy 
us of the wisdom of the Lord herein : and we know 
not what additional blessings are hereby given into 
the soul of the believer himself, or what more abund- 
ant entrance into the heavenly kingdom may by this 
means be provided for him. This should afford us 
much comfort in those instances wherein we witness 
the apparently painful lingerings of departing spirits, 
who struggle with the sufferings of dying nature. 
If they are ripe for their eternal rest, God is thus 
showing that they are in their abiding affiance through 
the awful struggle. And to ourselves in the pros- 
pect of dying, or in the endurance of the pains of 
death, it should be a consolatory reflection, that we 
are leaving a last blessing upon those who behold 
us ; and that like the orb of light, that is about to 
leave the inhabitants on whom it has shone in the 
comparative shades of night, we set in glory, and 
leave as it were our lingering rays to illumine the 
horizon. We may also take comfort respecting the 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 235 

question whether it be possible for redeemed souls 
to be taken away before they are ripe ? This we can- 
not imagine, for our God regulates all His ways by 
an unerring rule of wisdom, both as it respects Him- 
self and His people. That there are different mea- 
sures oi blessedness, holiness, and visible excellence, 
is undeniable : and that we are bound, as responsible 
creatures, to press after the highest measure, is quite 
clear from the Scripture. See 2 Peter i, 11. At the 
same time we are sure that the Lord will never cut 
off His fruit in an unripe state, or before it is pre- 
pared to be laid up incorruptible and excellent in the 
future kingdom. We must take the consolation 
which the everlasting covenant in Christ ensures on 
this ground, seeing that all His redeemed are jpre- 
served in Him, and use it with believing industry, 
being solicitous to prove that we are preserved unto a 
high state of perfection, and consequent abundance in 
glory. At whatever period, however, the visitation 
may come, wherein we are received to rest, we are 
assured that it shall be attended with a glorious dis- 
play of covenant faithfulness. Here let us call to 
m.ind that there is a mutual interest in the property — 
Christ and His people being sharers in the possession ; 
for the soul that is blood-bought is not only the be- 
lievefs soul, but Jesus' inheritance : hence Jesus will 
have a peculiar care of it in that important moment 
when it is about to pass the valley of the shadow of 



236 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

death : He considers tliis tlie period when He shall 
receive of the travail of His soul, when He shall 
gather the reward of His suffering work, and be 
jojfnl in the perfection of His own heritage as the 
Lamb. Therefore, it is said, '^ Precious in the sight 
of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm cxvi, 
15. He has now to fulfill His own promise, of 
which not only Apostles, but all who believe, are 
heirs, " I will come again, and receive you unto my- 
self, that where I am there you may be also." John 
xiv, 1-3. It is now that He is engaged to give evi- 
dence of His covenant character and victory, of which 
He spake to the Apostle John : "I am the Alpha 
and Omega." "I am he that liveth and was dead," 
" and have the keys of hell and of death." Rev. 
i, 18. By these keys, that is by His legal authority 
and rule, He opens and no man shuts, shuts and no 
man opens ; and in reference to this last moment 
displays His own wisdom, opening the prison-house 
of clay in the best moment to let out the prisoner ; 
opening the realms of glory to let it in to its eternal 
mansion, and shutting the bottomless abyss, so that 
no yawning gulf shall affright or endanger the liber- 
ated spirit as it enters on its rapid flight to glory. 
Thus the covenant has provided security for the 
saints, and caused it to be written that death is theirs. 
1 Cor. iii, 22. The time of departure is also a pecu- 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 237 

liar time of power and grace of the Holy Ghost, wlio 
ill His office as witness and comforter puts forth His 
omnipotence to sustain and cheer the departing. It 
is hy Him that Jesus' victory over death and the 
grave is applied with power, and appropriated to the 
drying of the tears of sorrow, and the hushing of 
every alarm or fear. It is by Him that the spirit is 
refreshed in the consciousness of having already ex- 
perienced His regenerating and faithful grace, and 
by the present mighty application of these truths, 
that the bed of sickness is made, according to prom- 
ise; and the dying pillow is softened and made a 
place of holy repose. Psalm xli, 3 ; Isa. xxv, 8 ; Ivii, 
1, 2. Thus, ^vhilst the Saviour puts forth His hand 
by a gentle force, to disengage the fruit from all that 
would retain it here. He mingles with the act the 
blessed impartation of power and love, so as to fill 
the soul with conscious peace, and sometimes with 
exulting joy. So sustained, the spirit can bid a 
cheerful farewell to the mortal part, trusting it as a 
redeemed property to be lodged in the grave, as in a 
place of rest, until the voice of the Lord shall raise it 
again to never-ending beauty and life ; believing also 
that until that period of perfection to the whole man, 
the delivered soul shall be possessed of the vision of 
the Lord. These are mercies abundantly treasured up 
in Christ for the ripened saint, and so given forth in 



•288 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. 

the last hour that a final conformity to Jesus is ex- 
ultingly known : conflicts being over and warfare 
done, the cry of the rejoicing soul as it passes into 
rest is like that of the living Head — " It is fin- 
ished !" John xix, 30. 

Thus death is stripped of its terrors, by being dis- 
armed of its sting, and the Bible testimony is veri- 
fied. The Lord the Saviour triumphs in His saints, 
and by Him they sing aloud, " death where is thy 
sting? grave where is thy victory? The sting of 
death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but 
thanks be to God which givetli us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. xv, 55, 
56, 57. 

Let it be to us a subject of deepest import, a point 
of heartfelt interest. Let us press toward the mark, 
and patiently wait the Lord's coming, vigilantly 
guarding against whatever might depress our joy, 
and cherishing the disposition which can exclaim. 
Come, Lord Jesus !" Rev. xxii, 20. 

Let all who have not the evidence of meetness, or 
of an advanced state, be excited to reflection. Con- 
sider the solemn words which are spoken in rebuke 
of the barren, unfruitful, and unsound. Be afraid of 
the command to cut the barren tree from privileges 
and life; of the threatened judgment awaiting such as, 
under privileges, bring forth the briar and the thorn; 



MATURED AND RIPENED EXPERIENCE. 239 

or of being numbered Avitb those who are described 
by the Prophet as having a root which is rottenness, 
and whose blossom shall go up as dust. Rather let 
us seek the Saviour's effectual grace, and in His 
strength prepare to meet our God. 



THE END. 



